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lIlllfM 


THE  FIRST  PRESIDENT,  INAUGURATED  1789 


A  FIRST  BOOK  IN 


AMERICAN  HISTORY 


WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE 
LIVES  AND  DEEDS  OF  GREAT  AMERICANS 


BY 

EDWARD  EGGLESTON 

Author  of  “  The  Beginners  of  a  Nation etc. 


REVISED  AND  ENLARGED 


AMERICAN  BOOK  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI  CHICAGO 

BOSTON  ATLANTA 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBUAttY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


Copyright,  1889,  by  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 
Copyright,  1899,  1915,  1920,  by  AMERICAN  BOOK  COMPANY. 
Copyright,  1917,  by  FRANCES  G.  EGGLESTON. 


EGGLES.  FIR'-"'  BOOK  HIST. 

E  P  23 


PREFACE. 


In  preparing  a  first  book  of  American  history,  it  is  necessary  to 
keep  in  mind  the  two  purposes  such  a  work  is  required  to  serve. 
There  are  children  whose  school  life  is  brief ;  these  must  get  all  the 
instruction  they  are  to  receive  in  their  country’s  history  from  a  book 
of  the  grade  of  this.  To  another  class  of  pupils  the  first  book  of 
American  history  is  a  preparation  for  the  intelligent  study  of  a  text¬ 
book  more  advanced.  It  is  a  manifest  waste  of  time  and  energy 
to  require  these  to  learn  in  a  lower  class  the  facts  that  must  be  re¬ 
studied  in  a  higher  grade.  Moreover,  primary  histories  which  fol¬ 
low  the  order  of  larger  books  are  likely  to  prove  dry  and  unsatis¬ 
factory  condensations.  But  a  beginner’s  book  ought  before  all 
things  else  to  be  interesting.  A  fact  received  with  me  attention 
raised  to  its  highest  power  remains  fixed  in  the  memory;  that  which 
is  learned  listlessly  is  lost  easily,  and  a  lifelong  aversion  to  history 
is  often  the  main  result  produced  by  the  use  of  an  unsuitable  text¬ 
book  at  the  outset. 

The  main  peculiarity  of  the  present  book  is  that  it  aims  to  teach 
children  the  history  of  the  country  by  making  them  acquainted 
with  some  of  the  most  illustrious  actors  in  it.  A  child  is  interested, 
above  all,  in  persons.  Biography  is  for  him  the  natural  door  into 
history.  The  order  of  events  in  a  nation’s  life  is  somewhat  above 
the  reach  of  younger  pupils,  but  the  course  of  human  life  and  the 
personal  achievements  of  an  individual  are  intelligible  and  delight¬ 
ful.  In  teaching  younger  pupils  by  means  of  biography,  which  is 
the  very  alphabet  of  history,  we  are  following  a  sound  principle  often 
forgotten,  that  primary  education  should  be  pursued  along  the  line 

v 


vi 


PREFACE. 


of  the  least  resistance.  Moreover,  nothing  is  more  important  to  the 
young  American  than  an  acquaintance  with  the  careers  of  the  great 
men  of  h-is  country. 

The  superiority  of  works  of  history  in  our  time  over  those  of 
other  ages  lies  in  the  attention  given  to  the  development  of  the  life 
of  the  people  as  distinguished  from  the  mere  recital  of  public 
events.  The  biographical  method  here  adopted  offers  a  great  ad¬ 
vantage,  by  giving  the  younger  pupil  interesting  glimpses  of  life  in 
other  times  by  means  of  personal  anecdote.  The  usages  of  Eu¬ 
ropean  courts,  the  dwellings  and  arts  of  the  Indians,  the  struggles 
of  pioneers  in  the  wilderness,  the  customs  of  the  inmates  of  frontier 
houses,  the  desolations  of  the  early  wars  with  the  savages,  the  home 
spinning  and  other  domestic  handicrafts,  the  stately  manners  and 
ostentatious  dress  of  our  forefathers,  and  many  other  obsolete  phases 
of  life,  are  vividly  suggested  to  the  pupil’s  mind,  not  by  dry  didactic 
statements,  but  in  unforgettable  stories  of  real  people.  This  line 
of  instruction  is  much  furthered  by  the  running  comment  of  the 
accompanying  illustrations. 

It  has  often  been  lamented  that  no  adequate  provision  is  made 
in  a  school  course  for  teaching  the  principles  of  morality.  But  the 
teaching  of  abstract  principles  is  generally  unavailing  to  produce 
good  conduct.  In  the  preparation  of  the  present  work  I  have 
been  surprised  to  find  how  abundant  are  the  materials  for  moral 
instruction  by  example  in  the  careers  of  our  great  men.  The  per¬ 
severance  of  Columbus,  of  Hudson,  and  of  Morse,  the  fortitude 
of  John  Smith,  of  Standish,  and  of  Boone,  can  not  but  excite  the 
courage  of  those  who  read  the  narratives  of  their  lives.  No  intel¬ 
ligent  pupil  will  follow  the  story  of  Franklin’s  industrious  pursuit 
of  knowledge  under  difficulty  without  a  quickening  of  his  own 
aspirations.  What  life  could  teach  resolute  patience,  truth- telling, 
manly  honor,  and  disinterested  public  spirit  better  than  that  of 
Washington?  And  where  will  a  poor  lad  struggling  with  poverty 
find  more  encouragement  to  strictest  honesty,  to  diligent  study, 


PREFACE. 


Vll 


and  to  simplicity  of  character  than  in  the  history  of  Lincoln  ? 
It  would  be  a  pity  for  a  country  with  such  examples  in  her  his¬ 
tory  not  to  use  them  for  the  moral  training  of  the  young.  The 
faults  as  well  as  the  virtues  of  the  persons  whose  lives  are  told 
here  will  afford  the  teacher  opportunities  to  encourage  right  moral 
judgments. 

In  the  matter  of  illustrations,  the  publishers  have  shown  a  lib¬ 
eral  i ty  without  precedent,  I  believe,  in  the  preparation  of  books  of 
this  class.  The  talents  and  skill  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  illus¬ 
trators  in  America  have  been  brought  into  requisition  to  lend  a 
charm  to  the  first  lessons  in  American  history.  Should  this  ex¬ 
ample  be  generally  followed  in  the  preparation  of  schoolbooks,  it 
may  produce  notable  results ;  a  general  refinement  of  taste  and 
feeling  ought  to  follow  an  early  acquaintance  with  works  of  real 
artistic  value.  The  pictures  have  been  made  under  the  author’s 
supervision,  and  are  meant  to  be  essential  aids  to  the  pupil  rather 
than  mere  decorations.  The  younger  the  pupil  the  more  must 
one  have  recourse  to  the  imagination  in  teaching.  Some  of  the 
pictures  convey  information  additional  to  that  in  the  text;  the 
object  of  most  of  them  is  to  suggest  to  the  pupil  a  vivid  concep¬ 
tion  of  the  narrative. 

Perhaps  the  most  novel  feature  of  the  book  is  the  system  of 
picture  maps.  To  the  untrained  eye  of  the  younger  pupil  an  ordi¬ 
nary  map  has  not  much  meaning,  but  the  beautiful  and  effective 
bird’s-eye  views  here  first  used  in  a  schoolbook  will  leave  a  con¬ 
ception  in  the  mind  of  a  child  distinct  and  ineffaceable. 

Of  course,  the  mode  of  studying  such  a  book  may  be  what  the 
teacher  pleases.  Brief  suggestions  for  a  topical  recitation  are  ap¬ 
pended  to  each  lesson.  Recitations  should  not  be  verbal  repetitions 
of  the  text ;  nor  should  they,  in  this  grade,  be  precise  and  exhaust¬ 
ive.  If  the  pupil  is  taught  to  give  the  substance  of  the  narrative  in 
his  own  words,  it  will  make  him  assimilate  what  he  has  studied,  and 
prove  a  valuable  training  in  thought  and  expression. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — The  Early  Life  of  Columbus . i 

II.— H  ow  Columbus  Discovered  America  ....  7 

III.  — Columbus  after  the  Discovery  of  America  .  .  .12 

IV.  — John  Cabot  and  his  Son  Sebastian  .....  18 

V.  — Captain  John  Smith  ........  23 

VI. — More  about  Captain  John  Smith  .  .  .  .  .  29 

VII. — The  Story  of  Pocahontas . 35 

VIII. — Henry  Hudson  .........  42 

IX  — Captain  Myles  Standish  .......  49 

X. — Myles  Standish  and  the  Indians  .....  54 

XI. — William  Penn  .........  59 

XII. — King  Philip  .........  67 

XIII.  — Captain  Church  in  Philip’s  War  .  .  .  .  .74 

XIV.  — Bacon  and  his  Men  ........  79 

XV. — Boyhood  of  Franklin  ........  86 

XVI. — Franklin,  the  Printer  .  90 

XVII. — The  Great  Doctor  Franklin  ......  95 

XVIII. — Young  George  Washington  ......  102 

XIX. — Washington  in  the  French  War  .  .  .  .  .  109 

XX. — Washington  in  the  Revolution  .  .  .  .  .  .115 

XXI. — The  Victory  at  Yorktown  and  Washington  as  President  .  122 

XXII. — Thomas  Jefferson  ........  127 

XXIII. — Daniel  Boone  .........  134 

XXIV. — Robert  Fulton  and  the  Steamboat  .....  141 

XXV. — William  Henry  Harrison  .......  146 

XXVI. — Andrew  Jackson  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .153 

XXVII. — Morse  and  the  Telegraph  .......  161 

XXVIII. — How  the  Telegraph  became  successful  ....  166 

XXIX. — Early  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  ......  171 

XXX. — Lincoln  in  Public  Life  .  .  .  .  .  .  177 

XXXI. — Something  about  the  Great  Civil  War  .  .  .  .181 
XXXII. — Something  about  the  Spanish  War  ....  186 

XXXIII. — Great  Expositions  ........  190 

XXXIV. — The  Panama  Canal  ........  195 

XXXV. — How  the  United  States  became  larger  .  .  •  .  .198 

XXXVI. — America  in  the  World  War  ......  209 

viii 


More  than  four  hundred  years  ago  there  lived  in  the 
old  city  of  Genoa  [gen'-o-ah],  in  Italy,  a  workingman  who 
had  four  sons.  One  of  these  was  Christopher  Columbus, 
who  was  born,  probably  about  the  year  1446,  in  that  part  of 
the  city  occupied  by  the  weavers  of  woolen  cloth.  Learned 
men  have  lately  taken  much  pains  to  find  the  very  house. 
It  is  a  narrow  house,  and  dark  inside.  The  city  has  bought 
it  and  put  an  inscription  in  Latin  on  the  front,  which  says : 
“No  house  more  worthy!  Here,  under  his 
father’s  roof,  Christopher  Columbus  passed 
his  boyhood  and  youth.”  The  father  of 
little  Christopher  was  a  wool  comber — 
that  is,  a  man  who  prepared  the  wool 
for  the  spinners,  or,  as  some  say,  a 
weaver.  Christopher  learned  to  work 
in  wool,  like  his  father. 

COMBING  WOOL.  - 

I 


THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


At  this  time  Genoa  was  a  place  of  ships  and  sailors,  going 
and  coming  to  and  from  many  parts  of  the  world.  On  the 

beach  he  might  have  seen  the  fishermen 
launch  their  boats  and  spread  their  curi¬ 
ous  pointed  sails,  such  as  you  see  in  the 
picture.  From  the  wharves  of  Genoa 
he  could  watch  the  ships  sailing  out  to 
*  trade  in  distant  lands.  I  wonder  if  the 
wool-comber’s  little  boy  ever  dreamed  that 
he  might  one  day  come  to  be  the  most  famous 
of  all  ship  captains,  and  sail  farther  away  into  unknown  seas 
than  any  man  had  ever  sailed  before. 

Columbus  was  doubtless  poor  and  had  to  work  for  his 
living.  But  he  must  have  been  studious,  for  he  somehow 
got  a  pretty  good  education.  He  learned  Latin,  he  wrote  a 
good  hand,  and  could  draw  maps  and  charts  for  the  use  of 
sailors,  by  which  last  calling  he  was  able  to  sup¬ 
port  himself  when  he  came  to  be  a  man.  At 
twenty-four  years  of  age  Columbus  made 
a  voyage,  but  he  was  at  least  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age  when  he  finally  became 
a  seaman,  and  began  to  acquire  that  knowl¬ 
edge  of  sailing  which  prepared  him  to  make 
discoveries.  The  seamen  of  that  time  did  not 
sail  very  far.  Their  voyages  were  mostly  in  columbus  learning 

TO  DRAW  MAPS. 

the  Med-i-ter-ra'-ne-an,  and  they  knew  little 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  which  they  called  “  The  Sea  of 
Darkness,”  because  they  did  not  know  what  was  in  it  or 
on  the  other  side  of  it.  They  believed  that  great  monsters 


THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


3 


swam  in  the  ocean,  and  that  in  one  part  it  was  so  hot 
that  the  water  boiled. 

Of  course,  they  did  not  know  that  there  was  any  such 
place  as  America,  and  they  believed  that  Africa  reached 
clear  to  the  south  pole.  The  only  trade 
they  had  with  Asia  was  by  caravans,  which 
brought  silks,  gums,  spices,  and  precious 
stones  from  the  far  East  on  the  backs 
of  camels. 

While  Columbus  was  yet  a  little 
boy,  there  was  living  in  Portugal 
[poar'-tu-gal]  a  prince  named  Henry, 
the  son  of  the  king  of  that  country. 

Henry  was  a  learned  man,  who 
thought  he  could  find  a  way  to  get 
round  Africa  to  the  rich  countries  of 
Asia.  He  sent  out  ship  after  ship,  until  he  had  discov¬ 
ered  much  of  the  African  coast. 

It  was  probably  the  fame  of  these  voyages  that  drew 
Columbus  to  Portugal.  From  Portugal  Columbus  himself 
sailed  down  the  newly  discovered  coast  of  Africa.  Then 
he  went  north  beyond  England,  so  that  he  was  already  a 
very  great  traveler  for  the  time. 

While  the  Portuguese  [poar'-tu-gueze],  in  trying  to  get 
to  India,  were  creeping  timidly  down  the  coast  of  Africa, 
with  land  always  in  sight,  Christopher  Columbus  conceived 
a  new  and  far  bolder  plan.  As  learned  men  believed  the 
world  round,  he  proposed  to  sail  straight  west  to  Asia, 
braving  all  the  dangers  of  the  unknown  Atlantic.  He 


PRINCE  HENnY. 


4 


THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


thought  the  world  much  smaller  than  it  is,  and  he  supposed 
that  he  should  find  Asia  about  as  far  west  of  Europe  as 
America  is.  He  did  not  dream  of  finding  a  new  world. 

As  Portugal  was  the  leading  country  in  making  dis¬ 
coveries,  Columbus  first  proposed  to  find  this  new  way 
to  Asia  for  the  king  of  that  country.  If  the  good  Prince 
Henry  had  been  alive,  he  would  probably  have  adopted 
the  plan  with  joy.  But  “  Henry  the  Navigator,’ *  as  he 
was  called,  had  died  long  before,  and  the  advisers  of  the 
King  of  Portugal  ridiculed  the  plan,  and  laughed  at  the 
large  reward  which  Columbus  demanded  if  he  should  suc¬ 


ceed.  However,  the  king  secretly  sent  out  one  of  his  own 
vessels,  which  sailed  westward  a  little  way,  and  then  came 
back  and  reported  that  there  was  no  land  there.  When 

Columbus  heard  of  this,  he  left  Portugal,  not 
liking  to  be  cheated  in  this  way. 

He  went  to  Spain  and  appeared  at 
court,  a  poor  and  friendless  stranger. 
Spain  was  ruled  at  this  time  by  King 
Ferdinand  and  Queen  Isabella.  They 
were  very  busy  in  their  war  with  the 
Moors,  who  then  occupied  a  great  part 
of  Spain.  Columbus  followed  the  court 
from  place  to  place  for  years.  But  the 
king  and  queen  paid  little  heed  to  the  projects  of  this  for¬ 
eigner.  They  were  too  much  employed  with  battles  and 
sieges  to  attend  to  plans  for  finding  a  new  way  to  India. 

Most  of  those  who  heard  of  Columbus  ridiculed  his 
plans.  They  did  not  believe  that  people  could  live  on  the 


A  MOORISH  SOLDIER. 


THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


5 


other  side  of  the  world,  and  walk 
with  their  feet  up  and  their  heads 
down.  The  very  children  tapped 
their  foreheads  when  Columbus 
passed,  to  signify  their  belief  that 
the  fellow  was  crazy. 

In  1491  Columbus,  whose  plans 
were  at  last  rejected,  left  the  court, 
traveling  on  foot  like  the  poor 
man  that  he  was,  and  leading  his 

little  boy  by  the  hand.  He 
stopped  one  day  at  the  con¬ 
vent  of  La  Rabida  [lah  rab'- 
ee-dah]  to  beg  a  little  bread 
and  water  for  the  child.  The 
good  prior  of  the  convent,  hap¬ 
pening  to  pass  at  that  moment, 
was  struck  with  the  foreign 
accent  of  the  stranger’s 
speech.  He  began  to 
talk  with  him,  and  soon 
learned  of  the 
project  that  had 

so  long  filled  the  mind  of  Columbus.  The  prior 
was  deeply  interested.  He  had  or\ce 
been  the  confessor,  or  religious  adviser, 
of  Isabella,  and  he  now  wrote  the  queen 
a  letter  in  favor  of  the  plan  of  Colum¬ 
bus.  The  queen  sent  for  the  prior,  and 


6 


THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS. 


he  persuaded  her  to  bring  back  Columbus.  She  sent  the 
great  navigator  a  mule  and  some  decent  clothes. 

But  Columbus,  when  he  got  back  to  court,  still  demand¬ 
ed  such  high  rewards  if  he  should  succeed  that  he  was 
again  allowed  to  depart.  He  set  out  to  offer  his  plan  to 
the  King  of  France;  but  now  his  friends  again  interceded 
with  the  queen,  lamenting  that  Spain  should  lose  his  serv¬ 
ices.  The  queen  sent  a  messenger  after  him,  who  over¬ 
took  him  in  a  pass  of  the  mountains  and  brought  him 
back,  with  the  assurance  that,  at  last,  he  would  be  sent 
forth  on  his  voyage. 

Nav'-i-ga-tor,  one  who  sails  or  directs  the  course  of  ships.  Con'- 
vent,  a  house  in  which  monks  or  nuns  dwell.  Pri'-op,  the  head  of  a 
company  of  monks. 


y 

MON8TER8  SUPPOSED  TO  LIVE  IN  THE  OCEAN.  AS  DRAWN  ON  OLD  MAP8. 


Tell  in  your  own  words — 

Where  Columbus  was  born. 

What  Columbus  learned. 

What  is  said  of  Prince  Henry. 

What  happened  to  Columbus  in  Portugal. 
What  happened  to  him  in  Spain. 


Place  to  be  remembered — 

Genoa,  the  birthplace  of  Columbus. 


HOW  COLUMBUS  DISCOVERED  AMERICA. 


7 


ii. 


How  Columbus  discovered  America. 

About  two  hundred  years  before 
Columbus  sailed,  there  arrived  in  the 
city  of  Venice  [ven'-is]  one  day  three 
travelers,  coarsely  dressed  in  Chi¬ 
nese  fashion.  They  said  that  they 
were  three  gentlemen  named  Polo, 
who  had  left  Venice  many  years  be¬ 
fore.  They  had  almost  forgotten 
how  to  speak  Italian,  and  at  first 
their  own  relatives  thought  them  foreign¬ 
ers  and  impostors.  But  they  gave  a  mag¬ 
nificent  banquet  at  which  they  all  appeared 
in  rich  robes.  They  changed  their  gar¬ 
ments  again  and  again  as  the  feast  went  on.  Every  robe 
taken  off  was  cut  up  and  given  to  the  servants.  At  last 
they  took  their  old  garments  and  ripped  them  open,  and 
poured  out  before  the  guests  a  collection 
of  precious  stones  of  untold  value. 

One  of  these  gentlemen,  Marco  Polo, 
whose  portrait  you  see  here,  wrote  a  book 
of  his  travels,  describing  the  vast  riches  of 
Eastern  countries,  before  unknown  to  peo¬ 
ple  in  Europe.  Columbus  had  read  this 
book,  and  it  was  to  find  a  new  way  to 
reach  the  rich  countries  seen  by  Polo  that  he  was  now 
resolved  to  sail  partly  round  the  globe, 


8 


HOW  COLUMBUS  DISCOVERED  AMERICA. 


In  spite  of  the  power  which  the  King  of  Spain  gave 
him  to  force  ships  and  seamen  to  go  with  him,  Columbus 
found  the  greatest  trouble  in  fitting  out  his  expedition,  so 
much  were  the  sailors  afraid  of  the  ocean.  But  at  last  all 
was  ready.  Those  who  were  to  sail  into  “  The  Sea  of 
Darkness  ”  with  Columbus  received  the  sacraments  and  bade 
a  solemn  farewell  to  their  friends,  feeling  much  like  men 
condemned  to  death.  They  embarked  in  three  little  ves¬ 
sels,  only  one  of  which  had  a  deck  over  it. 

Columbus  went  to  the  Canary  Islands  first.  Then  with 
bitter  lamentations  the  men  took  leave  of  the  last  known 
land,  and  sailed  into  seas  in  which  no  ship  had  ever  been. 
Columbus  tried  to  cheer  them  with  the  stories  he  had 
read  in  Marco  Polo’s  book,  of  the  riches  of  the 
great  country  of  China.  But  he  also  de¬ 
ceived  them  by  keeping  two  separate 
accounts  of  his  sailing.  In  the  one 
which  he  showed  to  his  companions 
he  made  the  distance  from  Spain  much 
less  than  it  really  was. 

But  they  were  greatly  alarmed  to 
find  that,  as  they  went  west,  the  needle 
of  the  compass  did  not  point  directly  to 
This  change,  though  well  known  now, 
was  probably  as  surprising  to  Columbus  as  to  his  men, 
but  he  did  his  best  to  keep  up  their  courage. 

The  weather  was  fine,  and  the  winds  blew  always  from 
the  east.  This  alarmed  the  sailors  more  than  ever,  for  they 
were  sure  they  would  get  no  wind  to  come  back  with. 


COLUMBUS  READING  POLO’S  BOOK. 


the  north  star. 


HOW  COLUMBUS  DISCOVERED  AMERICA. 


9 


One  day  the  wind  came  around  to  the  southwest,  which 
was  a  great  encouragement. 

But  presently  the  ships  struck  great  masses  of  seaweed, 
and  all  was  grumbling  and  lamentation  again.  The  fright¬ 
ened  sailors  remembered  old  stories  of  a  frozen  ocean,  and 
imagined  that  this  must  be  the  very  place.  When  the  wind 
fell  to  a  calm,  they  thought  the  ships  might  lie  there  and 
rot  for  want  of  wind  to  fill  the  sails. 

They  were  getting  farther  and  farther  away  from  Europe. 
Where  would  they  find  food  and  water  to  last  them  till 
they  got  home  ?  They  thought  their  commander  a  crack- 
brained  fool,  who  would  go  on  to  their  destruction.  They 
planned,  therefore,  to  throw  him  into  the 
sea,  and  go  back.  They  could  say  that, 
while  he  was  gazing  at  the  stars,  after 
his  fashion,  he  had  tumbled  over. 

But  the  worst  disappointments  were 
to  come.  One  day  the  glad  cry  of 
“  Land!  ”  was  raised.  Columbus  fell  on 
his  knees  to  return  thanks,  while  the 
men  scrambled  up  into  the  rigging. 

But  it  proved  to  be  only  a  cloud.  On 
the  7th  of  October  another  false  alarm  disheartened  the 
sailors  more  than  ever. 

From  the  first  Columbus  had  pointed  to  seaweed,  and 
other  supposed  signs  of  land,  until  the  men  would  no  longer 
listen  to  his  hopeful  words.  Now  the  appearance  of  some 
song  birds,  a  heron,  and  a  duck,  could  not  comfort  them. 
The  great  enterprise  was  about  to  end  in  failure,  after  all, 


IO 


HOW  COLUMBUS  DISCOVERED  AMERICA. 


when,  on  the  nth  of  October,  the  sailors  found  a  branch 
of  a  thorn-tree  with  berries  on  it.  At  length  a  carved 
stick  was  found,  and  the  men  began  to  believe  that  they 
were  really  near  to  some  inhabited  land. 

During  the  night  which  followed  this  discovery  no  one 
on  the  ships  slept.  About  ten  o’clock  Columbus  saw  a 

glimmering  light  appearing  and  disappear¬ 
ing,  as  though  some  one  on  shore  were 
carrying  a  torch.  At  two  o’clock  a 
sailor  sighted  land. 

The  morning  light  of  Friday,  Oc¬ 
tober  12,  1492,  showed  the  Spaniards 
a  beautiful  little  island.  Columbus 
dressed  himself  in  scarlet,  and  planted 
the  Spanish  standard  on  the  shore, 
throwing  himself  on  the  earth  and 
kissing  it,  while  the  naked  Indians 
wondered  whether  these  men  in  bright 
armor  had  flown  from  the  skies  in  their  winged  boats  or 
had  sailed  down  upon  the  clouds.  The  sailors,  lately  so 
ready  to  cast  Columbus  into  the  sea,  now  crowded  about 
him,  embracing  him  and  kissing  his  hands. 

When  the  Indians  had  recovered  from  their  first  sur¬ 
prise,  they  visited  the  ships,  some  of  them  in  canoes,  and 
others  by  swimming.  They  brought  with  them  a  ball  of 
cotton  yarn,  bread  made  from  roots,  and  some  tame  par¬ 
rots,  which,  with  a  few  golden  ornaments,  they  exchanged 
for  caps,  glass  beads,  tiny  bells,  and  other  trifles,  with 
which  they  could  adorn  themselves. 


HOW  COLUMBUS  DISCOVERED  AMERICA. 


1 1 


The  island  which  Columbus  first  discovered  was  a  small 
one,  which  he  called  San  Salvador,  but  we  do  not  now  know 
which  of  the  West  India  Islands  it  was.  He  thought  that 
he  was  on  the  coast  of  Asia.  But  where  were  the  rich 
islands  and  great  cities  and  houses  roofed  with  gold,  of 
which  Marco  Polo  had  written  two  hundred  years  before  ? 

From  island  to  island  Columbus  sailed,  looking  for  these 
things,  not  knowing  that  they  were  thousands  of  miles 
away.  Finding  the  island  of  Cuba  very  large,  he  con¬ 
cluded  that  it  was  a  part  of  the  mainland  of  Asia. 

Im-pos'-tors,  people  who  pretend  to  be  what  they  are  not. 
Craek'-brained,  crazy.  Stand'-ard,  national  flag.  Ar'-mor,  a 
dress  to  protect  the  person  in  battle,  usually  made  of  metal. 


12 


HOW  COLUMBUS  DISCOVERED  AMERICA. 


3  'ell  in  your  own  words — 

About  the  return  of  the  Polos. 

What  Marco  Polo  wrote. 

What  Columbus  was  looking  for. 

About  his  departure. 

His  voyage.  (See  Map  at  the  top  of  page  i.) 

The  discovery. 

Date  to  be  remembered — 

1492,  the  year  of  the  discovery  of  America.  About  how  many  hun¬ 
dred  years  ago? 


III. 

Columbus  after  the  Discovery  of  America. 

COLUMBUS  was  very  kind  to  the  natives.  At  one  time 
a  poor  savage  was  captured  by  the  sailors  and  brought  to 
Columbus,  who  was  standing  on  the  high  after-castle  of  the 
ship.  The  terrified  Indian  sought  to  gain  his  favor  by 
presenting  the  great  man  with  a  ball  of  cotton  yarn.  Co¬ 
lumbus  refused  the  present,  but  he  put  upon  the  Indian’s 
head  a  pretty  colored  cap;  he  hung  bells  in  his  ears,  and 
tied  strings  of  green  beads  about  his  arms.  Then  he  sent 
the  simple  creature  ashore,  where  his  friends  were  after¬ 
ward  seen  admiring  his  ornaments. 

At  another  time  the  sailors  picked 
up  an  Indian  who  was  crossing  in  an 

open  canoe  a  wide  tract  of  water 
from  one  island  to  another.  This  man  had  a  piece  of 
cassava  bread  and  a  gourd  of  water  for  his  sea  stores. 
He  also  had  a  bit  of  red  paint  with  which  to  deco¬ 
rate  his  face  before  appearing  among  strangers,  and 


GOURD 

BOTTLE. 


COLUMBUS  AFTER  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA. 


13 


a  string  of  beads  procured  from  the  white  men.  He  was 
rowing  to  a  neighboring  island  to  carry  the  news  of  the 
coming  of  the  Spaniards.  His  canoe  was  taken  on  board, 
he  was  fed  with  the  best  food  of  the  ship,  and  put  ashore 
at  his  destination. 

Having  got  one  of  his  vessels  ashore  on  the  coast  of 
Haiti  [ha'- tee],  which  he  called  Hispaniola  [his-pan-ee-o'- 
lah],  Columbus  built  a  fort  of  the  timber  from  the  wrecked 
vessel  and  left  here  a  little  colony. 

But  now  he  began  to  think  of  carrying  home  the 
good  news  of  his  great  discovery.  In  January,  1493,  he 
set  sail  for  Spain.  On  the  12th  of  January,  when  all 
were  looking  forward  to  a  joyful  return,  a  terrific  storm 
threatened  to  wreck  the  ship  and  to  bury  in  the  ocean  all 
memory  of  the  great  discovery.  Prayers  were 
said  and  vows  were  made,  for  the  safety  of 
the  ship. 

To  preserve  the  memory  of  his  discovery 
if  all  else  should  be  lost,  Columbus  wrote 
two  accounts  of  it,  which  he  inclosed  in 
cakes  of  wax  and  put  into  two  barrels. 

One  of  these  was  thrown  into  the  sea;  the 
other  was  set  upon  the  stern  of  the  vessel, 
that  it  might  float  off  if  the  ship  should  go 
down.  He  hoped  that  one  of  these  barrels 
might  drift  to  the  coast  of  Europe  and  be  found. 

Columbus  at  length  reached  the  islands  called  the 
Azores.  Here,  when  the  storm  had  abated,  some  of  his 
men  went  ashore  to  perform  their  vows  at  a  little  chapel, 


14  COLUMBUS  AFTER  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA. 


COLUMBUS 
.IETURNS  IN  TRIUMPH. 


parrots  and  stuffed 
birds  were  borne  in  the  pro¬ 
cession  with  articles  of  gold.  Colum¬ 
bus  followed,  escorted  by  Spanish  knights  proud  to  do  him 
honor.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  received  him  under  a  can- 


and  were  made  prisoners  by  the  Portuguese  governor. 
Having  got  out  of  this  difficulty,  Columbus  put  to  sea  and 
met  another  gale,  which  split  his  sails  and  threatened  to 
wreck  the  vessel.  He  finally  came  to  anchor  in  a  Portu¬ 
guese  port,  where  he  no  doubt  felt  some  exultation  in  show¬ 
ing  what  Portugal  had  lost  by  refusing  his  offers. 

In  April  he  reached  Barcelona  [bar-say-lo'-nah],  a  Span¬ 
ish  city,  and  made  his  entry  in  a  triumphal  procession. 
At  the  head  marched  the  Indians  whom  he  had  brought 

back  with  him.  These  were 
well  smeared  with  paint  and 
decorated  with  the  feathers  of 
tropical  birds  and  with  gold¬ 
en  ornaments.  Then 


COLUMBUS  AFTER  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA.  1 5 


°py  of  gold  brocade.  As  a  mark  of  special  honor,  they 
caused  him  to  sit  down  while  he  related  his  discoveries. 

This  was  the  happiest  moment  in  the  troubled  life  of 
Columbus.  He  who  had  been  thought  insane  was  now  the 
most  honored  man  in  Spain. 

The  rest  of  his  story  is  mostly  a  story  of  misfortunes. 
The  people  in  his  first  colony  on  the  island  of  Hispaniola 
quarreled  among  themselves  and  maltreated  the  Indians, 
until  the  latter  fell  on  them  and  killed  them  all.  The 
second  colony  was  also  unfortunate.  Columbus  was  not  a 
wise  governor,  and  he  had  many  troubles  in  trying  to  settle 


An  officer  sent  out  to  inquire  into  the  disorders  in  the 
colony  sent  Columbus  home  in  chains.  The  people  were 
shocked  at  this  treatment  of  the  great  navigator,  and  so 
were  the  king  and  queen,  who  ordered  the  chains  removed. 
When  Columbus  appeared  before  Isabella  and  saw  tears  in 
her  eyes,  he  threw  himself  on  his  knees,  while  his  utter¬ 
ance  was  choked  by  his  sobs. 


l5  COLUMBUS  AFTER  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA. 


After  this  he  was  not  permitted  to  return  to  his  colony; 
but  in  1502  he  made  his  fourth  voyage  to  America,  trying 
to  find  a  way  to  get  through  the  mainland 
of  South  America  in  order  to  reach  India, 
which  he  thought  must  lie  just  beyond. 
He  was  at  length  forced  to  run  his 
worm-eaten  vessel  aground  near  the 
k  shore  of  the  island  of  Jamaica  [ja- 
may'-cah].  Thatched  cabins  were 
built  on  the  deck  of  the  stranded 

COLUMBUS  IN  CHAINS.  ship,  and  here  Columbus,  a  bed¬ 

ridden  invalid,  lived  miserably  for  a  year. 

One  faithful  follower,  named  Diaz  [dee'-ath],  traded  a 
brass  basin,  a  coat,  and  his  two  shirts,  to  an  Indian  chief 
for  a  canoe,  in  which  after  horrible  suffering  Diaz  reached 
Hispaniola.  Meantime  the  men  on  the  wrecked  ship  got 
provisions  from  the  Indians  in  exchange  for  trinkets.  Some 
of  the  men  ran  away  from  Columbus  and  lived  with  the 
savages. 


The  Indians  now  got  tired  of  providing  food  in  ex¬ 
change  for  toys,  and  Columbus  and  his  men  were  at  the 
point  of  starvation.  Knowing  that  an  eclipse  of  the 
moon  was  about  to  take  place,  he  told  the  Indians  that 
a  certain  god  would  punish  them  if  they  did  not  pro¬ 
vide  for  him,  and,  as  a  sign,  he  said  the  moon  would  lose 
its  light  and  change  color  that  very  night.  No  sooner 
did  the  eclipse  appear,  than  the  Indians  brought  him  all 
the  provisions  at  hand,  and  the  Spaniards  did  not  lack 
after  that. 


COLUMBUS  AFTER  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA.  1/ 


May,  1506.  He  believed  to 
the  last  that  he  had  discovered  the 


Help  at  length  reached  Co¬ 
lumbus,  and  he  returned  to 
Spain  broken  in  health  and 
spirits.  Queen  Isabella,  who 
had  been  his  best  friend,  died 
soon  after  his  return.  Co¬ 
lumbus  died  on  the  20th  of 


COLUMBUS  BEFORE  ISABELLA. 


eastern  parts  of  Asia.  He  never  knew  that  he  had  found 
a  new  continent. 

After-castle,  a  cabin  built  above  the  deck  at  the  stern  of  a  ship  in 
ancient  times,  to  enable  the  sailors  to  shoot  down  upon  the  deck  of  an 
enemy’s  vessel.  Cassava  [kas'-a-vah],  a  sort  of  bread  made  of  the  root 
of  the  tapioca  plant.  Gourd  [goard],  the  fruit  of  a  vine  of  the  same 
family  as  the  pumpkin,  with  a  hard  and  woody  shell,  which  is  still  used  as 
a  dipper  or  bottle  in  many  parts  of  America.  Can'-o-py,  a  covering  or 
awning  spread  overhead.  Bro-eade',  silk  goods  with  gold  or  silver  thread 
woven  in  it,  or  woven  with  raised  figures.  Avaricious  [av-a-rish'-us], 
fond  of  money,  eager  for  gain. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  about — 

Columbus  and  the  Indians. 

The  voyage  home. 

The  triumphant  reception. 

The  colonies  planted  by  Columbus. 

Columbus  in  chains. 

His  last  voyage  and  shipwreck. 

His  return  and  death. 


The  pupil  may  be  asked  to  write  out  briefly  his  impression  of  the  useful¬ 
ness,  the  character,  and  the  fate  of  Columbus. 


l8  JOHN  CABOT  AND  HIS  SON  SEBASTIAN. 

IV. 

John  Cabot  and  his  Son  Sebastian. 

The  food  eaten  four  or  five  hundred  years  ago  was 
mostly  coarse  and  unwholesome.  The  people  were  there¬ 
fore  very  fond  of  all  sorts  of  spices  which  they  mixed  with 
almost  everything  they  ate.  These  spices  were  brought 
from  Asia  by  caravans.  It  was  chiefly  to  get  to  the  land  of 
spices  by  sea  that  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator  tried  to 
send  ships  around  the  southern  point  of  Africa.  Columbus 
had  also  tried  to  reach  the  “  Spice  Islands”  of  Asia  in  his 
voyage  to  the  west. 

Now  another  Italian  was  to  try  it.  This  man  was  John 
Cabot  [cab'-ot].  Like  Columbus,  he  was  probably  born  in 
or  near  the  city  of  Genoa;  like  Columbus,  he  thought  much 
about  geography  as  it  was  then  understood ;  and,  like  Co¬ 
lumbus,  he  was  a  great  traveler.  He  moved  to  Venice  and 
then  to  Bristol  in  England. 

The  Italian  merchants  traveled  farther  than  any  others 
in  that  day.  One  of  Cabot’s  long  trading  journeys  had 

carried  him  into  Ara¬ 
bia  as  far  as  the  city 
of  Mecca  [mek'-kah]. 
Here  he  saw  the  cara¬ 
vans  that  brought  their  loads  of  costly  spices  on  the 
backs  of  camels  from  the  countries  of  the  East.  Now 
the  people  of  Europe  in  Cabot’s  time,  having  very  few 
printed  books,  knew  almost  nothing  about  these  far-away 
Eastern  countries. 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  HIS  SON  SEBASTIAN. 


19 


“  Where  do  these  spices  come  from  ?”  Cabot  asked  of 
the  men  belonging  to  the  caravan. 

They  answered  that  they  brought  them  from  a  country 
far  to  the  east  of  Mecca,  where  they  bought  spices  of  other 
caravans  which  brought  them  from  a  land  yet  farther  to 
the  east.  From  this  Cabot  reasoned  as  Columbus  had  done, 
that,  if  he  should  sail  to  the  west  far  enough,  he  would  get 
round  the  world  to  the  land  of  spices.  It  would  be  some¬ 
thing  like  going  around  a  house  to  come  in  by  the  back 
door. 

While  Cabot  was  living  in  England  there  came  great  news 
out  of  Spain.  One  Christopher  Columbus,  it  was  said,  had 
discovered  the  coasts  of  India  by  sailing  to  the  westward, 
for  Columbus  thought  the  land  he  had  found  a  part  of  India. 
When  this  was  told  in  England,  people  thought  it  “  a  thing 
more  divine  than  human  to  sail  by  the  west  into  the  east.” 
And  when  Cabot  heard  the  story,  there  arose  in  his  heart,  as 
he  said,  ”  a  great  flame  of  desire  to  do  some  notable  thing.” 

While  Columbus  had  waited  in  discouragement  for  Fer¬ 
dinand  and  Isabella  to  accept  his  project,  he  had  sent  his 
brother  Bartholomew  Columbus  to  Henry  the  Seventh,  then 
King  of  England,  to  offer  the  plan  to  him.  What  answer  the 
king  gave  to  Bartholomew  is  not  known,  for,  before  the 
latter  got  back  to  Spain,  Christopher  Columbus  had  re¬ 
turned  from  his  first  voyage. 

But  now  for  this  same  King  Henry  of  England  Cabot 
offered  to  make  a  voyage  .like  that  of  Columbus.  As  the 
Atlantic  had  already  once  been  crossed,  the  king  readily 
agreed  to  allow  Cabot  to  sail  under  his  authority. 


20 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  HIS  SON  SEBASTIAN. 


In  May,  1497,  Cabot  set  sail  from  Bristol  in  a  small 
vessel  with  eighteen  men,  mostly  Englishmen.  Cabot  sailed 
much  farther  north  than  Columbus,  and  he  appears  to  have 
discovered  first  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  now  part  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada.  He  went  ashore  on  the  24th  of 
June,  and  planted  a  large  cross  and  the  flag  of  England, 
as  well  as  the  flag  of  St.  Mark,  the  patron  saint  of  Venice. 
He  also  discovered  the  mainland  of  North  America.  Cabot 
was  thus  the  first  to  see  the  American  continent.  Columbus 
discovered  the  mainland  of  South  America  a  year  later. 
Cabot  did  not  see  any  Indians,  but  he  brought  back  some 
of  their  traps  for  catching  wild  animals. 

He  got  back  to  England  in  August,  having  been  gone 
but  three  months.  He  brought  news  that  he  had  discov¬ 
ered  the  terri¬ 
tory  of  the  Em¬ 
peror  of  China. 
The  king  gave 
him  a  pension, 
he  dressed  him¬ 
self  in  silks,  and 
was  called  “The 
Great  Admiral.  ” 
It  is  to  be  feared 
this  sudden  rise 
in  the  world  puffed  him  up  a  great  deal.  To  one  of  his  com¬ 
panions  he  promised  an  island,  and  another  island  he  was 
going  to  bestow  on  his  barber!  On  the  strength  of  these 
promises,  both  of  these  men  set  themselves  up  for  counts! 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  HIS  SON  SEBASTIAN. 


21 


That  there  were  many  fish  on  the  new  coast  was  a  fact 
which  impressed  the  practical  Bristol  people,  though  Cabot 
had  no  thought  of  engaging  in  fishery.  He  imagined  that 
by  sailing  a  little  farther  south  than  before  he  might  come 
to  the  large  island  that  Marco  Polo  called  Cipango,  and 
we  now  call  Japan.  He  did  not  know  that  the  far-off 
country  he  had  seen  was  not  half  so  far  away  as  Japan. 
Cabot  believed  that  all  the  spices  and  precious  stones  in 
the  world  came  from  Cipango. 

King  Henry  the  Seventh  fitted  out  Cabot  with  another 
and  much  larger  expedition.  This  expedition  went  far  to 
the  north  along  the  coast  of  America,  and  then  away  to 
the  south  as  far  as  the  shores  of  what  is  now  the  State 
of  North  Carolina.  Cabot  found  Indians  dressed  in  skins, 
and  possessing  no  metal  but  a  little  copper.  He  found 
no  gold,  and  he  brought  back  no  spices.  The  island  of 
Cipango  and  the  territories  of  the  Emperor  of  China  he 
looked  for  in  vain,  though  he  was  sure  that  he  had  reached 
the  coast  of  Asia. 

Cabot’s  crew  brought  back  stories  of  seas  so  thick  with 
codfish  that  their  vessels  were  made  to  move  more  slowly 
by  them.  They  even  told  of  bears  swimming  out  into  the 
sea  and  catching  codfish  in  their  claws.  But 
the  English  people  lost  interest  in  voy¬ 
ages  that  brought  neither  gold  nor 
spices,  and  we  do  not  know  anything 
more  about  John  Cabot. 

John  Cabot’s  second  son,  Sebastian, 
who  was  with  him  on  this  voyage,  be- 


22 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  HIS  SON  SEBASTIAN. 


came,  like  his  father,  famous  for  his  knowledge  of  geogra¬ 
phy,  and  was  sometimes  employed  by  the  King  of  Spain 
and  sometimes  by  the  King  of  England.  He  promoted 
expeditions  to  try  to  find  a  way  to  China  by  the  north 
of  Europe.  When  a  very  old  man  he  took  a  great  interest 
in  the  sailing  of  a  new  expedition  of  discovery,  and  vis¬ 
ited  with  a  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  the  Search- 
thrift,  a  little  vessel  starting  on  a  voyage  of  exploration  to 
the  northeast.  Having  tasted  of  ‘ 4  such  good  cheer”  as 

o  o 

the  sailors 
could  make 
aboard  the 
ship,  and 
after  mak¬ 
ing  them 
liberal  pres¬ 
ents,  the 
little  com¬ 
pany  went 
ashore  and 
dined  at 
the  sign  of 

the  “  Christopher,”  where  the  lively  old  gentleman  for  joy, 
as  it  is  said,  at  the  ”  towardness  ”  of  the  discovery,  danced 
with  the  rest  of  ”  the  young  company,”  after  which  he 
and  his  friends  departed,  ”  most  gently  commending  ”  the 
sailors  to  the  care  of  God. 

Car'-a-van,  a  company  of  merchants,  or  others,  traveling  together  for 
safety.  No'-ta-ble,  worthy  of  notice.  Ad'-mi-ral,  a  title  given  to 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  HIS  SON  SEBASTIAN. 


23 


the  commander  of  a  fleet,  and  also  in  old  times  to  a  man  who  had  per¬ 
formed  some  great  exploit  at  sea.  Towardness,  forwardness.  Count, 
a  title  of  nobility. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  about — 


John  Cabot’s  first  voyage. 
John  Cabot’s  second  voyage. 
Sebastian  Cabot. 


Caravans  of  spices. 

The  travels  of  Cabot. 

The  news  from  Columbus. 


V. 


Captain  John  Smith. 


On  the  estate  of  Lord  Willoughby,  in  the 
eastern  part  of  England,  there  was  a  family  of 
poor  tenants  named  Smith,  who  had  a  son  born 
in  1579.  They  named  him  John;  John  Smith  is 
the  most  common  of  names,  but  this  was  the 


-  most  uncommon  of  all  the  John  Smiths.  He 

was  apprenticed  to  learn  a  trade,  but  he  ran  away  from  his 
master  and  became,  for  a  while,  a'  servant  to  Lord  Wil¬ 
loughby,  who  was  going  to  Holland. 

Like  most  runaway  boys,  he  found  the  world  a  hard 
place,  and  had  to  lead  a  very  rough-and-tumble  life.  He 
enlisted  as  a  soldier;  he  was  shipwrecked;  he  was  robbed 
and  reduced  to  beggary;  and,  if  we  may  believe  his  own 
story,  he  was  once  pitched  into  the  sea  by  a  company  of 
pilgrims,  who  thought  that  he  had  caused  the  storm,  like 
Jonah  in  the  Bible.  This  must  have  happened  not  far  from 
shore,  for  he  reached  land  without  the  aid  of  a  whale, 
and  went  into  the  war  against  the  Turks.  There  he  killed 


24 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


Smith  was  thrashing  wheat 
on,  the  Turk  began  to 
thrash  him.  Smith  grew 
angry,  and,  leaving  the 
wheat,  hit  his  master  with 
the  flail,  killing  him  on  the 
spot.  Then  he  took  a  bag 
of  wheat  for  food,  mount¬ 
ed  his  master’s  horse  and 
escaped  to  the  wilderness, 
and  got  out  of  Turkey. 

When,  at  last,  Captain 
Smith  got  back  to  England 
with  his  wonderful  budget 
of  stories  about  narrow  es¬ 
capes  and  bloody  fights,  he 
probably  found  it  hard  to 
settle  down  to  a  peaceful  life. 
The  English  people  were  just 


three  Turks  in  single  combat, 
and  cut  off  their  heads,  but 
Captain  John  Smith  came  near 
losing  his  own  head  in  the 
fight  with  the  last  one. 

The  Turks  captured  Smith 
afterwards  and  made  him  a 
slave.  His  Turkish  master 
was  very  cruel,  and  put  an 
iron  collar  on  his  neck.  While 
one  day  with  his  dog  collar 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


25 


CROSS-BAR  SHOT, 
CLOSED  AS  PUT  INTO  A  GUN 
AND  OPEN  AFTER  FIRING. 


then  talking  a  great  deal  about  settling  a  colony  in  North 
America,  which  was  quite  wild  and  almost  wholly  unex¬ 
plored.  Nothing  suited  the  wandering  and  daring  Cap¬ 
tain  Smith  better.  He  joined  the  com¬ 
pany  which  set  sail  for  America,  in  three 
little  ships,  in  1606.  The  largest  of  these 
was  called  the  Susan  Constant. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  the  people  sent  out 
in  this  first  company  were  what  we  should 
call  nowadays  a  hard  set.  They  were 
most  of  them  men  who  knew  nothing 
about  work.  They  had  heard  how  the 
Spaniards  grew  rich  from  the  gold  and 
silver  in  South  America,  and  they  expected  to  pick  up 
gold  without  trouble. 

The  colony  was  settled  at  a  place  called  Jamestown. 
Soon  after  the  settlers  landed  the  Indians  attacked  them 
while  they  were  unarmed,  and  the  settlers  might  all  have 
been  put  to  death  with  the  bows  and  arrows  and  war  clubs 
of  the  savages,  if  the  people  on  one  of 
the  ships  had  not  fired  a  cross-bar  shot 
— such  as  you  see  in  the  picture.  This 
cross-bar  shot  happened  to  cut  down  a 
limb  of  a  tree  over  the  heads  of  the 
Indians.  When  they  heard  the  noise 
of  the  cannon,  like  thunder,  and  saw 
the  tree  tops  come  tumbling  on  their 
heads,  the  savages  thought  it  was  time 
to  make  good  use  of  their  heels. 


1 


26 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


JOHN  SMITH. 


The  people  of  that  day  did  not  know  how  to  plant 
colonies,  and  the  lack  of  good  food  and  shelter  caused 

the  death  of  more  than  half  of  the  James¬ 
town  settlers.  The  Indians  who  lived  near 
them  had  fields  of  Indian  corn,  whose 
streaming  blades  and  waving  tassels  were 
a  strange  sight  to  Englishmen.  When  at 
last  the  corn  was  ripe,  Captain  John 
Smith  set  sail  in  a  small  boat  and  traded 
a  lot  of  trinkets  to  the  Indians  for  corn, 
and  so  saved  the  lives  of  many  of  the  people. 

The  English  thought  America  was  only  a  narrow  strip 
of  land.  They  were  still  looking  for  a  way  to  India,  as 
Columbus  had  looked  for  one  more  than  a  hundred  years 
before.  The  King  of  England  had  told  them  to  explore 
any  river  coming  from  the  northwest.  Smith  therefore 
set  out  to  sail  up  the  little  Chickahom'iny  River  to  find 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  not  knowing  that  this 
ocean  was  nearly  three  thousand  miles  away. 

The  daring  captain  left  his  two 
men  in  charge  of  the  boat  while  he 
went  on  farther.  The  Indians 
killed  the  men  and  then  pur¬ 
sued  Smith.  Smith  had  taken 
an  Indian  prisoner,  and  he 
saved  himself  by  putting  this 
prisoner  between  him  and  his 
enemies.  But  the  Indians  caught 

O  .v  .  ^ 

Smith  after  he  had  fled  into  a  smith  fights  the  Indians. 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


2/ 


swamp,  where  he  sank  up  to  his  waist  in  the  mud,  so 
that  he  could  neither  fight  nor  run.  He  made  friends  with 
the  head  Indian  of  the  party  by  giving  him  a  pocket 
compass  and  trying  to  explain  its  use. 

As  all  the  Indians  had  a  great  curiosity  to  see  a  white 
man,  Smith  was  marched  from  one  Indian  village  to  an¬ 
other;  but  he  was  treated  with  a  great  deal  of  respect. 
Perhaps  the  Indians  thought  that  men  who  sailed  in  big 
canoes  and  discharged  guns  that  blazed  and  smoked  and 
made  a  noise  like  thunder  and  knocked  the  trees  down, 
must  have  some  mysterious  power.  But  they  also  thought 
that  if  they  could  persuade  the  white  people  to  give  them 
some  big  guns  they  could  easily  conquer  all  the  Indian 
tribes  with  whigih  they  were  at  war. 

The  Indians  surrounded  Smith  with  curious  charms  by 
way  of  finding  out  whether  he  was  friendly  to  them  or 
not.  They  fed  him  very  well ;  but  Smith,  who  was  as  igno¬ 
rant  of  Indians  as  they  were  of 
white  people,  thought  that  they 
were  fattening  him  to  eat  him, 
so  he  did  not  have  much  appetite. 

Powhatan  [pow-ha-tan']  was 
the  name  of  the  great  chief  of 
these  Indians.  This  chief  set 
Smith  free.  He  sent  some  men 
along  with  him  on  his  return  to  Jamestown  to  bring  back 
two  cannons  and  a  grindstone  in  exchange  for  the  prisoner; 
but  the  Indians  found  these  things  rather  too  heavy  to  carry, 
and  they  were  forced  to  return  with  nothing  but  trinkets. 


28 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


Captain  Smith  seems  to  have  been  the  best  man  to 
control  the  unruly  settlers  and  manage  the  Indians.  The 
people  in  England  who  had  sent  out  this  colony  thought 
they  could  make  the  chief,  Powhatan,  friendly  by  send¬ 
ing  him  presents.  They  sent  him  a  crown,  a  wash  basin, 
and  a  bedstead,  also  a  red  robe,  and  other  things  quite  un¬ 
necessary  to  a  wild  Indian.  But  when  Powhatan  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life  had  a  bedstead  and  a  wash  basin  and 
a  red  gown,  he  thought  himself  so  important  that  he 
would  not  sell  corn  to  the  settlers,  who  were  in  danger 
of  starving.  Captain  Smith,  however,  showed  him  some 
blue  glass  beads,  pretending  that  he  could  not  sell  them 
because  they  were  made  of  some  substance  like  the  sky, 
and  were  to  be  worn  only  by  the  greatest  princes.  Pow¬ 
hatan  became  half  crazy  to  get  these  precious  jewels,  and 
Smith  bought  a  large  boat-load  of  corn  for  a  pound  or  two 
of  beads.  i 

Ap-pren'-tieed,  bound  to  serve  a  master  in  order  to  learn  a  trade. 
Pil'-grim,  a  traveler  going  to  visit  some  holy  place.  Single  com¬ 
bat,  a  duel,  a  fight  between  two  men  only.  Ex-plore',  to  visit  and 
examine  a  country  before  unknown  or  little  known.  Un-ex-plored', 
not  yet  visited  or  examined  by  civilized  people.  Trin'-ket,  a  toy;  some¬ 
thing  of  small  value. 

Tell  in  your  own  words — 

What  you  can  remember  of  Captain  Smith’s  curious  adventures 
before  he  went  to  T urkey. 

His  adventures  in  the  war  with  the  Turks. 

His  escape  from  slavery. 

His  captivity  among  the  Indians. 

Date  and  place  to  be  remembered:  First  English  colony  settled  in 

America,  at  Jamestown,  in  the  year  1607. 


MORE  ABOUT  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


29 


VI. 


More  about  Captain  John  Smith. 


The  two  best  things  about  Captain  John  Smith  were, 
that  he  was  never  idle  and  he  never  gave  up.  He 


was  a  good  man  to  have  in  a  colony,  for  he  was 


always  trying  to  find  out  something  new 
or  to  accomplish  some  great 
thing.  He  had  not  found  a 
way  to  China  in  the  swamps 
on  the  Chickahominy  Riv¬ 
er;  he  had  only  found  a 
mudhole,  and  got  him¬ 
self  captured  by  the  In¬ 
dians.  But 


RIVER 


MORE  ABOUT  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


30 


he  thought  he  might  find  the  Pacific  Ocean  by 
sailing  up  the  Chesapeake  [ches'-a- 
peak]  Bay.  So  he  went  twice 
up  this  bay,  exploring  at  last  to 
the  very  head  of  it.  Of  course, 
he  did  not  find  a  way  into  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  We  know  well 
gjrre*'  enough  nowadays  that  China  is 
not  anywhere  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Baltimore.  But  Smith  made  a 
good  map  of  the  great  bay,  and  he 
bought  corn  from  the  Indians,  and  so  kept 
the  colony  alive.  This  was  better  than  finding  a  way 
to  China,  if  he  had  only  known  it. 

In  living  in  an  open  boat  and  sailing  among  Indians  that 
were  very  suspicious  and  unfriendly,  Smith  and  his  men 
had  to  suffer  many  hardships.  They  were  sometimes  nearly 
wrecked  by  storms,  and  once  when  their  sail  had  been  torn 
to  pieces  they  patched  it  with  the  shirts  of!  their  backs. 
Their  bread  was  spoiled  by  the  splashing  of  the  salt  water, 
and  they  suffered  so  much  from  thirst  that  at  one  time 
they  would  have  been  willing  to  give  a  barrel  of  gold,  if 
they  had  only  had  it,  for  a  drink  of  puddle  water.  Some¬ 
times,  when  sleeping  on  the  ground,  they  got  so  cold  that 
they  were  forced  to  get  up  in  the  night  and  move  their 
fire,  so  that  they  could  lie  down  on  the  warm  earth  where 
the  fire  had  been. 

I 

At  one  place  the  Indians  shot  arrows  at  them  from  the 
trees.  Then  they  tried  to  get  the  Englishmen  to  come  on 


MORE  ABOUT  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


31 


shore  by  dancing  with  baskets  in  their  hands.  Captain 
Smith  says  that  he  felt  sure  they  had  nothing  in  their 
baskets  but  villainy.  So  he  had  his  men  fire  off  their 
guns.  The  noise  of  the  guns  so  frightened  the  savages 
that  they  all  dropped  to  the  ground  and  then  fled  into  the 
woods.  Smith  and  his  men  now  ventured  ashore  and  left 
presents  of  beads,  little  bells,  and  looking-glasses  in  their 
wigwams.  Pleased  with  these  things,  the  Indians  became 
friendly  and  fell  to  trading. 

Once,  when  many  of  Captain  Smith’s  men  were  ill,  the 
Indians  attacked  him.  Smith  put  his  sick  men  under 
a  tarpaulin,  and  mounted  their  hats  on  sticks  among  his 
well  men,  so  that 
the  boat  appeared 
to  have  its  full 
force.  Having 
procured  Indian 
shields  of  wicker¬ 
work,  Captain 
Smith  put  them 
along  the  side  of 
his  boat,  so  as  to 
fight  from  behind 
them.  But  he  generally 

SMITH  AND  HIS  MEN  IN  CAMP. 

made  friends  with  the  In¬ 
dian  tribes,  and  he  came  back  to  Jamestown  with  plenty 
of  corn  and  furs. 

Powhatan,  the  greatest  of  the  Indian  chiefs,  wanted  to 
get  the  arms  of  the  white  men.  Muskets,  swords,  and  pis- 


32 


MORE  ABOUT  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


tols  were  now  and  then  stolen  by  the  Indians,  and  Cap¬ 
tain  Smith  tried  to  put  a  stop  to  this  thievery.  Two  In¬ 
dians  who  were  brothers  stole  a  pistol.  They  were  cap¬ 
tured,  and  one  of  them  was  put  into  prison,  while  the  other 
was  sent  to  get  the  pistol.  The  one  in  the  prison  was 
allowed  a  fire  of  charcoal,  to  keep  him  from  freezing. 
When  his  brother  came  back  the  prisoner  was  found 

smothered  by  the  gas 
from  the  charcoal  fire. 
The  other  poor  fellow  was 
heartbroken ;  but  Captain 
Smith  succeeded  in  reviv¬ 
ing  the  one  that  had  been 
smothered.  From  this  the 
Indians  concluded  that  he 
was  not  only  a  great  brave, 
but  a  great  medicine  man 
as  well,  who  could  bring 
dead  people  to  life. 

At  another  time  an 
Indian  stole  a  bag  of 
gunpowder,  which  was  a 
thing  of  wonder  to  the 
savages.  He  also  stole  a 
piece  of  armor  at  the  same  time.  He 
had  seen  white  men  dry  their  powder  when  wet  by  put¬ 
ting  it  into  a  piece  of  armor  and  holding  it  over  the 
fire.  He  tried  to  do  the  same  thing;  but  the  fire  was 
too  hot  for  the  powder,  and  the  Indian  was  treated  to 


MORE  ABOUT  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


33 


a  very  great  surprise.  This  terrified  the  savages  for  a 
time. 

In  1609  there  were  many  newcomers,  and  Captain 
Smith’s  enemies  got  control  of  the  colony.  They  sent 
Smith  home,  and  he  never  saw  Virginia  again. 

Captain  Smith  afterwards  sailed  on  a  voyage  to  New 
England  in  1614.  While  his  men  caught  and  salted  fish  to 
pay  for  the  expense  of  the  voyage,  Smith  sailed  in  an  open 
boat  along  the  New  England  coast.  He  traded  with  the 
Indians,  giving  them  beads  and  other  trinkets  for  furs.  He 
also  made  the  first  good  map  of  the  coast.  After  he  had 
returned  to  England  with  furs,  Hunt,  who  was  captain  of 
his  second  ship,  coaxed  twenty-four  Indians  on  board  and 
then  sailed  away  with  them  to  Spain.  Here  he  made  sale 
of  his  shipload  of  salted  fish,  and  began  to  sell  the  poor 
Indians  for  slaves.  Some  good  monks,  finding  out  what  he 
was  doing,  stopped  him  and  took  the  Indians  into  their  con¬ 
vent  to  make  Christians  of  them.  One  of  these  Indians, 
named  Squanto  [squon'-to],  afterwards  found  his  way  to 
England,  and  from  there  was  taken  back  to  America. 

Captain  Smith  tried  very  hard  to  persuade  English  peo¬ 
ple  to  plant  a  colony  in  New  England.  He  finally  set  out 
with  only  sixteen  men  to  begin  a  settlement  there.  He  had 
made  friends  with  the  New  England  Indians,  and  he  was 
sure  that  with  a  few  men  he  could  still  succeed  in  planting 
a  colony.  But  he  had  very  bad  luck.  He  first  lost  the 
masts  of  his  vessels  in  a  storm.  He  returned  to  England 
again  and  set  sail  in  a  smaller  ship.  He  was  then  chased 
by  a  pirate  vessel.  Smith  found,  on  hailing  this  ship,  that 


34 


MORE  ABOUT  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


some  of  the  men  on  board  had  been  soldiers  under  him  in 
the  Turkish  wars.  They  proposed  to  him  to  be  their  cap¬ 
tain,  but  he  did  not  want  to  command  such  rogues. 

Smith’s  little  vessel  had  no  sooner  got  away  from  these 
villains,  than  he  was  chased  by  a  French  ship.  He  had  to 
threaten  to  blow  up  his  ship  to  get  his  men  to  fight.  He 
escaped  again,  but  the  next  time  he  was  met  by  a  fleet  of 
French  privateers.  They  made  Smith  come  aboard  one  o' 
their  vessels  to  show  his  papers.  After  they  had  got  him 
out  of  his  ship  they  held  him  prisoner  and  took  possession  of 
his  cargo.  They  afterwards  agreed  to  let  him  have  his  vessel 
again,  as  he  was  still  determined  to  sail  to  New  England; 
but  his  men  wanted  to  turn  back;  so,  while  Smith  was  on 
the  French  ship,  his  own  men  ran  away  with  his  vessel  and 
got  back  to  England.  Thus  his  plan  for  a  colony  failed. 

Smith  spent  his  summer  in  the  French  fleet.  When  the 
French  privateers  were  fighting  with  an  English  vessel  they 
made  Smith  a  prisoner  in  the  cabin ;  but  when  they  fought 
with  Spanish  ships  they  would  put  Smith  at  the  guns  and 
make  him  fight  with  them.  Smith  reached  England  at  last, 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  having  some  of  his  runaway  sail¬ 
ors  put  into  prison.  He  never  tried  to  plant  another  col¬ 
ony,  though  he  was  very  much  pleased  with  the  success  of 
the  Plymouth  colony  which  settled  in  New  England  a  few 
years  later  than  this.  This  brave,  roving,  fighting,  boast¬ 
ing  captain  died  in  1631,  when  he  was  fifty-two  years  old. 

Vil'-lain-y,  wickedness.  Tar-pau'-lin,  waterproof  canvas  for 
covering  goods.  Wig'-wam,  an  Indian  house.  Wickerwork, 
woven  of  twigs,  like  a  basket.  Piece  of  armor,  one  of  the  plates  for- 


MORE  ABOUT  CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH. 


35 


merly  worn  on  the  breast,  back,  or  other  part  of  a  soldier  for  protection. 
Pi'-rate,  a  sea  robber.  Pri-va-teer',  a  war  ship  belonging  to  private 
owners,  with  authority  from  a  government  to  capture  the  vessels  of  an 
enemy.  Medicine  man,  a  priest  and  doctor  among  the  Indians  who 
pretends  to  work  by  charms. 

Tell  what  you  can  about — 

Captain  Smith  in  Chesapeake  Bay. 

Captain  Smith’s  dealings  with  the  Indians. 

The  Indians  and  the  gunpowder. 

Captain  Smith’s  attempt  to  settle  New  England. 


VII. 

The  Story  of  Ppcahontas. 

WHILE  Captain  John  Smith  was  a  prisoner  among  the 
Indians  of  Powhatan’s  tribe,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
that  chief’s  daughter,  Pocahontas  [po-ka-hon'-tas],  a  little 
girl  of  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age,  with  whom  he  was  very 
much  pleased.  Years  afterwards,  he  said  that  Powhatan 
had  at  one  time  determined  to  put  him  to  death ;  but  when 
Captain  Smith’s  head  was  laid  upon  some  stones,  and 
Indians  stood  ready  to  beat  out  his  brains,  Pocahontas  laid 
her  head  on  his,  so  that  they  could  not  kill  Captain  Smith 
without  striking  her;  seeing  which,  Powhatan  let  him  live. 
Captain  Smith  said  nothing  about  this  occurrence  in  the 
first  accounts  of  his  captivity,  and  many  people  think  that 
it  never  happened. 

But  it  is  certain  that,  whether  Pocahontas  saved  his 
life  at  this  time  or  not,  he  was  much  attached  to  her,  and 
she  became  very  fond  of  going  to  Jamestown,  where  she 


36 


THE  STORY  OF  POCAHONTAS. 


played  with  the  boys  in  the  street.  When  the  settlers 
were  in  danger  of  starving,  she  brought  them  food.  When 

a  messenger  was  sent 
from  Jamestown  to 
carry  an  important 
message  to  Captain 
Smith,  then  in  Pow¬ 
hatan’s  country,  she 
hid  the  man,  and  got 
him  through  in  spite 
of  Powhatan’s  desire 
to  kill  him.  When 
the  Indians  intend¬ 
ed  to  kill  Captain 
Smith,  she  went  to 
his  tent  at  night  and 
gave  him  warning. 
Captain  Smith  of¬ 
fered  her  trinkets  as 
a  reward,  but  she 
refused  them,  with 
tears  in  her  eyes, 
saying  that  Powha¬ 
tan  would  kill  her  if  he  knew  of  her  coming  there.  These 
are  the  stories  told  of  her  in  Captain  Smith’s  history. 
And  when  a  number  of  white  men  then  in  the  Indian 
country  were  put  to  death,  she  saved  the  life  of  a  white 
boy  named  Henry  Spelman  by  sending  him  away. 

When  Captain  Smith  had  been  in  the  colony  two  years, 


POCAHONTAS  CARRIES  VENISON  TO  JAMESTOWN. 


THE  STORY  OF  POCAHONTAS. 


37 


ships  came  from  London  with  many  hundreds  of  people. 
The  ships  that  brought  this  company  to  Jamestown  in 
1609  were  under  the  command  of  men  that  were  enemies 
of  Captain  Smith,  who  had  come  to  be  governor  of  the 
colony.  These  men  resolved  to  depose  John  Smith,  so 
as  to  get  the  government  of  Jamestown  into  their  own 
hands.  Smith,  having  been  injured  by  an  explosion  of 
gunpowder,  consented  to  go  back  to  England.  His  ene¬ 
mies  sent  charges  against  him.  One  of  these  charges  was 
that  he  wished  to  marry  Pocahontas,  who  was  now  grow¬ 
ing  up,  and  thus  to  get  possession  of  the  colony  by  claim¬ 
ing  it  for  the  daughter  of  Powhatan,  whom  the  English 
regarded  as  a  kind  of  king. 

The  colony  had  every  reason  to  be  sorry  that  Captain 
Smith  was  sent  away.  The  men  left  in  charge  managed 
badly,  Powhatan  ceased  to  be  friendly,  and  his  little  daugh¬ 
ter  did  not  come  to  see  the  English  people  any  more. 
The  people  of  Jamestown  were  now  so  afraid  of  the  In¬ 
dians  that  they  dared  not  venture  outside  the  town.  Soon 
all  their  food  was  gone,  and  they  had  eaten  up  their  horses. 
Some  of  the  people  were  killed  by  the  Indians;  some  fled 
in  one  of  the  ships  and  became  pirates;  and  great  num¬ 
bers  of  them  died  of  hunger. 

Ships  arrived  at  last,  bringing  help  to  the  colony. 
Under  one  governor  and  another  Jamestown  suffered  many 
troubles  from  sickness  and  from  the  Indians.  There  was  in 
the  colony  a  sea  captain  named  Argali,  who  thought  that, 
if  he  could  get  Pocahontas  into  his  power,  her  father,  the 
great  chief  Powhatan,  might  be  persuaded  to  be  peaceable. 


THE  STORY  OF  POCAHONTAS. 


3 


8 


Pocahontas  was  by  this  time  a  young  woman  of  about 
eighteen.  She- was  visiting  an  old  chief  named  Japazaws, 
who  lived  on  the  Potomac  River.  Argali  was  trading  with 
the  Indians  at  Japazaws’ s  town.  He  told  Japazaws  that,  if 
he  would  bring  Pocahontas  on  board  his  ship,  he  would 
give  him  a  copper  kettle.  Every  Indian  wanted  to  have  a 
copper  kettle,  of  all  things.  Japazaws  and  his  wife,  pre¬ 
tending  that 
they  wished 
to  see  the 
vessel,  coaxed 
Pocahontas  to 
go  with  them. 
Argali  refused 
to  let  her  go 
ashore  again, 
and  carried  her 
to  Jamestown 
a  prisoner. 
Here  she 

POCAHONTAS  TAKEN  PRISONER. 

stayed  a  year. 

The  English  people  in  Jamestown  refused  to  give  her  up 
unless  Powhatan  would  return  some  guns  which  the  In¬ 
dians  had  taken.  There  was  an  Englishman  living  at 
Jamestown,  named  John  Rolfe,  who  fell  in  love  with  Poca¬ 
hontas,  and  proposed  to  marry  her.  When  word  was  sent 
to  Powhatan  of  this,  he  readily  agreed  to  the  marriage,  and 
an  old  uncle  and  two  brothers  of  Pocahontas  went  down 
to  Jamestown  to  attend  the  wedding.  Pocahontas,  having 


THE  STORY  OF  POCAHONTAS. 


39 


been  instructed  in  the  Christian  religion,  was  baptized  in 
the  little  church,  and  married  to  Rolfe  in  1614.  Her  real 
name  was  Matoax,  but  her  father  called  her  Pocahontas. 
When  she  was  baptized,  she  took  the  name  of  Rebecca. 


THE  WEDDING  OF  POCAHONTAS. 


The  marriage  of  Pocahontas  brought  peace  with  the 
Indians.  In  1616,  with  her  little  baby  boy,  Pocahontas 
was  taken  to  England.  Here  she  was  called  “the  Lady 
Rebecca/'  and  treated  with  great  respect  as  the  daughter 
of  a  king. 

The  people  at  Jamestown  had  told  Pocahontas  that  John 
Smith  was  dead.  When  she  saw  him  alive  in  England,  she 


40 


THE  STORY  OF  POCAHONTAS. 


was  very  much  offended.  She  fell  into  such  a  pout  that  for 
some  time  she  would  not  speak  to  anybody.  Then  she 
announced  her  intention  of  calling  Captain  Smith  her  father, 
after  the  Indian  plan  of  adoption. 

She  was  greatly  petted  by  the  king  and  queen  and  all 
the  great  people.  The  change  from  a  smoky  bark  hut 
to  high  life  in  England  must  have  been  very  great,  but 
she  surprised  everybody  by  the  quickness  with  which 
she  learned  to  behave  rightly  in  any  company.  She  was 
much  pleased  with  England,  and  was  sorry  to  go  back. 
When  she  was  ready  to  sail,  she  was  attacked  by  small¬ 
pox,  and  died. 

Her  little  boy  was  now  left  in  England.  Captain  Argali, 
who  had  made  Pocahontas  prisoner,  was  now  made  Gov¬ 
ernor  of  Virginia.  He  was  a  very  dishonest  man,  and  he 
and  some  partners  of  his  appear  to  have  had  a  scheme  to 
get  possession  of  the  colony  by  claiming  it  for  the  child  of 
Pocahontas  as  the  grandson  of  “King  Powhatan/’  Argali 
sent  word  to  England  that  the  Indians  had  resolved  to  sell 
no  more  land,  but  to  keep  it  all  for  this  child.  This  was,  no 
doubt,  a  falsehood.  Argali  was  a  bad  governor,  and  he  was 
soon  recalled,  and  a  better  man  took  his  place.  The  son  of 
Pocahontas  returned  to  Virginia  when  he  was  grown. 

But  when  Pocahontas  was  dead,  and  Powhatan  also, 
there  was  nothing  to  keep  the  Indians  quiet,  and  in  1624, 
they  suddenly  fell  upon  the  settlement  and  killed  more 
than  three  hundred  people  in  one  day.  Long  and  bloody 
wars  followed,  but  the  colony  of  Virginia  lived  through 
them  all. 


THE  STORY  OF  POCAHONTAS. 


41 


INDIAN  MASSACRE  IN  VIRGINIA. 

Col'-o-ny,  a  company  of  people  who  have  left  their  native  country, 
to  dwell  together  in  some  distant  land.  A-dop'-tion,  the  taking  of  a 
person  as  a  relative  who  is  not  naturally  so.  Re-called',  called  back. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  the  story  of — 

Pocahontas  saving  Captain  Smith’s  life.  Pocahontas  and  the 
messenger.  Pocahontas  warning  Smith.  Pocahontas  saving 
Spelman. 

Also  tell  about— 

The  sending  of  Captain  Smith  to  England.  The  famine  at  James¬ 
town. 

Also  tell  of — 

Pocahontas  a  prisoner.  Her  marriage.  Her  visit  to  England.  Her 
death.  Her  son. 


42 


HENRY  HUDSON 


r.n  .  -<x 


jmim t 


HUDSON  STOPPED  BY  ICE, 


VIII. 

Henry  Hudson. 

Three  hundred  years  ago  England  was  rather  poor 
in  people  and  in  money.  Spain  had  become  rich  and  im¬ 
portant  by  her  gold  mines  in  the  West  Indies  and  the  cen¬ 
tral  parts  of  America.  Portugal  had  been  enriched  by 
finding  a  way  around  Africa  to  India,  where  many  things 
such  as  silks  and  spices  were  bought  to  be  sold  in  Europe 
at  high  prices.  Some  thoughtful  men  in  England  had  an 
idea  that  as  the  Portuguese  had  reached  India  by  sailing 
round  the  Eastern  Continent  on  the  south,  the  English 
might  find  a  way  to  sail  to  India  around  the  northern 
part  of  Europe  and  Asia.  By  this  means  the  English 


HENRY  HUDSON. 


43 


ships  would  also  be  able  to  get  the  precious  things  to 
be  found  in  the  East. 

For  this  purpose  some  London  merchants  founded  the 
Mus'-co-vy  Company,  with  old  Sebastian  Cabot  at  its  head. 
This  Muscovy  Company  had  not  succeeded  in  finding  a 
way  to  China  round  the  north  of  Europe,  but  in  trying 
to  do  this  its  ships  had  opened  a  valuable  trade  with  Rus¬ 
sia  [rush'-ah],  or  Muscovy  as  it  was  then  called,  which  was 
a  country  but  little  known  before. 

One  of  the  founders  of  this  Muscovy  Company  was  a 
rich  man  named  Henry  Hudson.  It  is  thought  that  he 
was  the  grandfather  of  Henry  Hudson,  the  explorer.  The 
merchants  who  made  up  this  company  were  in  the  habit 
of  sending  out  their  sons,  while  they  were  boys,  in  the 
ships  of  the  company,  to  learn  to  sail  vessels  and  to  gain 
a  knowledge  of  the  languages  and  habits  of  trade  in  dis¬ 
tant  countries.  Henry  was  sent  to  sea  while  a  lad,  and  was 
no  doubt  taught  by  the  ship  captains  all  about  sailing  ves¬ 
sels.  When  he  grew  to  be  a  man,  he  wished  to  make  him¬ 
self  famous  by  finding  a  northern  way  to  China. 

In  the  spring  of  1607,  almost  four  months  after  Captain 
Smith  had  left  London  with  the  colony  bound  for  James¬ 
town,  his  friend  Hudson  was  sent  out  by  the  Muscovy  Com¬ 
pany  to  try  once  more  for  a  passage  to  China.  He  had 
only  a  little  ship,  which  was  named  Hopewell,  and  he  had 
but  ten  men,  including  his  own  son  John  Hudson.  He 
found  that  there  was  no  way  to  India  by  the  north  pole. 
But  he  went  farther  north  than  any  other  man  had  gone. 

Hudson  made  an  important  discovery  on  this  voyage. 


44 


HENRY  HUDSON. 


He  found  whales  in  the  Arctic  Seas, 
and  the  Muscovy  Company  now  fitted 
out  whaling  ships  to  catch  them.  The 
next  year  the  brave  Hudson  tried  to 
pass  between  Spitz-berg'-en  and  Nova 
Zembla  [no'-vah  zem'-blah],  but  he  was  again  turned  bacK 
by  the  walls  of  ice  that  fence  in  the  frozen  pole. 

By  this  time  the  Muscovy  Company  was  discouraged, 
and  gave  up  trying  to  get  to  India  by  going  round 
the  north  of  Europe.  They  thought  it  better  to  make 
money  out  of  the  whale  fishery  that  Hudson  had  found. 
But  in  Holland  there  was  the  Dutch  East  India  Com¬ 
pany,  which  sent  ships  round  Africa  to  India.  They  had 

heard  of  the  voyages  of  Hudson, 
who  had  got  the  name  of  ”  the 
bold  Englishman.”  The  Dutch 
Company  was  afraid  that  the 
English,  with  Hudson’s  help, 
might  find  a  nearer  way  by 
the  north,  and  so  get  the 
trade  away  from  them.  So 
they  sent  for  “  the  bold  Eng¬ 
lishman,”  and  hired  him  to  find 
this  new  route  for  them. 

Hudson  left  Amsterdam  in 
1609  in  a  yacht  called  ”  The  Half 
Moon.”  He  sailed  round  Nor¬ 
way  and  found  his  old  enemy  the  ice  as  bad  as  ever  about 
Nova  Zembla.  Just  before  leaving  home  Hudson  had  re- 


THIS  MAP  SHOWS  THE  WAY  TO  INDIA  AND 
CHINA  BY  THE  SOUTH,  AND  HOW  HUD¬ 
SON  TRIED  TO  REACH  THOSE  LANDS  BY 
6AILING  AROUND  BY  THE  NORTH. 


I 


HENRY  HUDSON 


45 


THE  HALF  MOON  VISITED  BY  THE  INDIANS. 


ceived  a  letter  from  his  friend  Captain  John  Smith,  in 
Virginia,  telling  him  that  there  was  a  strait  leading  into 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  to  the  north  of  Virginia.  Hudson  per¬ 
suaded  his  men  to  turn  about  and  sail  with  him  to  America 
to  look  for  the  way  to  India  that  Smith  had  written  about. 

So  they  turned  to  the  westward  and  sailed  to  Newfound¬ 
land,  and  thence  down  the  coast  until  they  were  opposite 
James  River.  Then  Hudson  turned  north  again,  and  began 
to  look  for  a  gateway  through  this  wild  and  unknown  coast. 
He  sailed  into  Delaware  Bay,  as  ships  do  now  on  their  way 
to  Philadelphia.  Then  he  sailed  out  again  and  followed  the 
shore  till  he  came  to  the  opening  by  which  thousands  of 
ships  nowadays  go  into  New  York. 

He  passed  into  New  York  Bay,  where  no  vessel  had 
ever  been  before.  He  said  it  was  “  a  very  good  land  to  fall 


46 


HENRY  HUDSON. 


A 


in  with,  and  a  pleasant  land  to  see.”  The 
New  Jersey  Indians  swarmed  about  the  ship 
dressed  in  fur  robes  and  feather  mantles,  and 
wearing  copper  necklaces.  Hudson  thought 
some  of  the  waterways  about  New  York 
harbor  must  lead  into  the  Pacific. 

He  sent  men  out  in  a  boat  to  examine  the 
bays  and  rivers.  They  declared  that  the 
land  was  ”  as  pleasant  with  grass  and  Aoa 
ers  as  ever  they  had  seen,  and  very  swee 
smells.”  But  before  they  got  back,  some 
Indians  attacked  the  boat  and  killed  oi 
man  by  shooting  him  with  an  arrow. 

When  the  Indian^came  round  the 
ship  again,  Hudson  made  two  of  them 
prisoners,  and  dressed  them  up  in 
red  coats.  The  rest  he  drove  away. 

As  he  sailed  farther  up  from  the 
sea,  twenty-eight  dugout 
canoes  filled  with  men, 
women,  and  children, 
paddled  about  the  ship. 

The  white  men  traded 
with  them,  giving  them 
trinkets  for  oysters  and 
beans,  but  none  were 
allowed  to  come  aboard. 

As  the  ship  sailed 


i » 


SANDT  HOOK 


‘ksmet 


HENRY  HUDSON. 


47 


on  up  the  river  that  we  now  call  the  Hudson,  the  two 
Indian  prisoners  saw  themselves  carried  farther  and  farther 
from  their  home.  One  morning  they  jumped  out  of  a 
porthole  and  swam  ashore,  without  even  stopping  to  say 
good-by.  They  stood  on  the  bank  and  mocked  the  men 
on  the  Half  Moon  as  she  sailed  away  up  the  river. 

Hudson’s  ship  anchored  again  opposite  the  Catskill 
Mountains,  and  here  he  found  some  very  friendly  Indians, 
who  brought  corn, 
pumpkins,  and  to¬ 
bacco  to  sell  to  the 
crew.  Still  farther 
up  the  river  Hudson 
visited  a  tribe  on 
shore,  and  wondered 
at  their  great  heaps 
of  corn  and  beans. 

The  chief  lived  in  a 
round  bark  house. 

Captain  Hudson  was 
made  to  sit  on  a 

mat  and  cat  from  a  red  wooden  bowl.  The  Indians  wished 
him  to  stay  all  night ;  they  broke  their  arrows  and  threw 
them  into  the  fire,  to  show  their  friendliness. 

Hudson  found  the  river  growing  shallower.  When  he 
got  near  where  Albany  now  stands  he  sent  a  rowboat  yet 
higher  up.  Then  he  concluded  that  this  was  not  the  way 
to  the  Pacific.  He  turned  round  and  sailed  down  the  river, 
and  then  across  the  ocean  to  England.  The  Half  Moon 


48 


HENRY  HUDSON. 


returned  to  Holland,  and  the  Dutch  sent  out  other  ships  to 
trade  in  the  river  which  Hudson  had  found.  In  the  course 
oi  time  they  planted  a  colony  where  New  York  now  stands. 

Captain  Hudson  did  not  try  to  go  round  the  north  of 
Europe  any  more.  But  the  next  spring  he  sailed  in  an 
English  ship  to  look  for  a  way  round  the  north  side  of 
the  American  Continent.  On  this  voyage  he  discovered 
the  great  bay  that  is  now  called  Hudson  Bay. 

In  this  bay  he  spent  the  winter.  His  men  suffered  from 
hunger  and  sickness.  In  the  summer  of  1611,  after  he  had, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  divided  his  last  bread  with  his  men, 
these  wicked  fellows  put  him  into  a  boat  with  some  sick 
sailors  and  cast  them  all  adrift  in  the  great  bay. 

The  men  on  the  ship  shot  some  birds  for  food,  but  in  a 
fight  with  the  Indians  some  of  the  leaders  in  the  plot  against 
Hudson  were  killed.  The  seamen,  as  they  sailed  home¬ 
ward,  grew  so  weak  from  hunger  '  hat  they  had  to  sit  down 
to  steer  the  vessel.  When  at  last  Juet,  the  mate,  who  had 
put  Hudson  overboard,  had  himself  died  of  hunger,  and  all 
the  rest  had  lain  down  in  despair  to  die,  they  were  saved  by 
meeting  another  ship. 

Ex-plor'-er,  one  who  travels  to  unknown  countries  to  find  out  what 
they  are.  Dutch,  belonging  to  Holland.  Dug'-out  ea-noes',  boats 
made  by  hollowing  out  a  log.  Port'-hole,  an  opening  in  the  side  of  a  ship, 
through  which  a  cannon  may  be  fired.  Yacht  (yot),  a  kind  of  small  vessel. 

Tell  what  you  can  remember  about  Hudson’s  attempt  to  get  to  China 
by  going  round  the  north  of  Europe. 

Tell  of  Hudson’s  discovery  and  exploration  of  the  Hudson  River. 

Of  Hudson’s  discovery  of  a  great  bay. 

Of  his  death. 


CAPTAIN  MYLES  STANDISH. 


49 


IX. 

Captain  Myles  Standish. 

THIRTEEN  years  after  the  first  settlement  at  James¬ 
town  a  colony  was  planted  in  New  England.  We  have 
seen  that  the  rough-and-ready  John  Smith  was  the  man 
who  had  to  deal  with  the  Indians  in  Virginia.  So  the 
first  colony  in  New'  England  had  also  its  soldier,  a  brave 
and  rather  hot-tempered  little  man — Captain  Standish. 

Myles  Standish  was  born  in  England  in  1584.  He  be¬ 
came  a  soldier,  and,  like  John  Smith,  went  to  fight  in  the 
Low  Country — that  is  in  what  we  now  call  Holland — which 
was  at  that  time  fighting  to  gain  its  liberty  from  Spain. 

The  Government  of  Holland  let  people  be  religious  in 
their  own  way,  as  our  country  does  now.  In  nearly  all 
other  countries  at  that  time  people  were  punished  if  they 
did  not  worship  after  the  manner  of  the  established  church 
of  the  land.  A  little  band  of  people  in  the  north  of  Eng¬ 
land  had  set  up  a  church  of  their  own.  For  this  they 
were  persecuted.  In  order  to  get  away  from  their  troubles 
they  sold  their  houses  and  goods  and  went  over  to  Hol¬ 
land.  These  are  the  people  that  we  now  'call  “  the  Pil¬ 
grims,”  because  of  their  wanderings. 

Captain  Standish,  who  was  also  from  the  north  of  Eng¬ 
land,  met  these  countrymen  of  his  in  Holland.  He  liked 
their  simple  service  and  honest  ways,  and  he  lived  among 
them  though  he  did  not  belong  to  their  church. 

The  Pilgrims  remained  about  thirteen  years  in  Hol¬ 
land.  By  this  time  they  had  made  up  their  minds  to  seek 


50 


CAPTAIN  MYLES  STANDISH. 


THE  MAYFLOWER. 


a  new  home  in  the  wild  woods  of  America.  About  a  hun¬ 
dred  of  them  bade  the  rest  good-by  and  sailed  for  Amer¬ 
ica  in  the  Mayflower  in 
1620.  As  there  might 
be  some  fighting  to 
do,  the  brave  sol¬ 
dier  Captain  Mvles 
Standish  went  along 
with  them. 

The  ship  first  reached 
land  at  Cape  Cod. 


Captain  Standish  and 
sixteen  men  landed,  and 
marched  along  the  shore  looking 
In  one  spot  they  found  the  ground 
Digging  here,  they  discovered  In¬ 
dian  baskets  filled  with  corn.  Indian  corn  is  an  American 
plant,  and  they  had  never  before  seen  it.  The  beautiful 
grains,  red,  yellow,  and  white,  were  a  “  goodly  sight,”  as 
they  said.  Some  of  this  corn  they  took  with  them  to  plant 
the  next  spring.  The  Pilgrims  paid  the  Indians  for  this 
seed  corn  when  they  found  the  right  owners. 

Standish  made  his  next  trip  in  a  boat.  This  time  he 
found  some  Indian  wigwams  covered  and  lined  with  mats. 
In  December,  Captain  Standish  made  a  third  trip  along 
the  shore.  It  was  now  so  cold  that  the  spray  froze  to  the 
clothes  of  his  men  while  they  rowed.  At  night  they  slept 
behind  a  little  barricade  made  of  logs  and  boughs,  so  as 
to  be  ready  if  the  Indians  should  attack  them. 


for  a  place  to  settle, 
freshly  patted  down. 


CAPTAIN  MYLES  STANDISH. 


51 


One  morning  some  of  the  men  carried  all  their  guns 
down  to  the  water-side  and  laid  them  in  the  boat,  in  order 
to  be  ready  for  a  start  as  soon  as  breakfast  should  be  fin¬ 
ished.  But  all  at  once  there  broke  on  their  ears  a  sound 
they  had  never  heard  before.  It  was  the  wild  war  whoop 
of  a  band  of  Indians  whose  arrows  rained  around  Stand- 
ish  and  his  men.  Some  of  the  men  ran  to  the  boat  for 
their  guns,  at  which  the  Indians  raised  a  new  yell  and 
sent  another  lot  of  arrows  flying  after  them.  But  once 
the  white  men  were  in  possession  of  their  guns,  they  fired 

a  volley  which  made 
the  Indians  take  to 
their  heels.  One  un¬ 
commonly  brave  In¬ 
dian  lingered  behind 
a  tree  to  fight  it  out 
alone ;  but  when  a 
bullet  struck  the  tree  and  sent  bits  of  bark  and  splinters 
rattling  about  his  head,  he  thought  better  of  it,  and  ran 
after  his  friends  into  the  woods. 

Captain  Standish  and  his  men  at  length  came  to  a 
place  which  John  Smith,  when  he  explored  the  coast,  had 
called  Plymouth  [plim'-uth].  Here  the  Pilgrims  found  a 
safe  harbor  for  ships  and  some  running  brooks  from 
which  they  might  get  fresh  water.  They  therefore  se¬ 
lected  it  for  their  landing  place.  There  had  once  been 
an  Indian  town  here,  but  all  the  Indians  in  it  had  died 
of  a  pestilence  three  or  four  years  before  this  time.  The 
Indian  cornfields  were  now  lying  idle,  which  was  lucky 


52 


CAPTAIN  MYLES  STANDISH. 


for  the  Pilgrims,  since  otherwise  they  would  have  had  to 
chop  down  trees  to  clear  a  field. 

The  Pilgrims  landed  on  the  2 1st  day  of  December,  in 
our  way  of  counting,  or,  as  some  say,  the  22d.  They 
built  some  rough  houses,  using  paper  dipped  in  oil  in¬ 
stead  of  window  glass.  But  the  bad  food  and  lack  of 
warm  houses  or  clothing  brought  on  a  terrible  sickness, 
so  that  here,  as  at  Jamestown,  one  half  of  the  people  died 

in  the  first  year.  Cap¬ 
tain  Standish  lost  his  wife, 
but  he  himself  was  well 
enough  to  be  a  kind  nurse 
to  the  sick.  Though  he 
'was  born  of  a  high  family, 
he  did  not  neglect  to  do 
the  hardest  and  most  dis¬ 
agreeable  work  for  his 
sick  and  dying  neighbors. 

As  there  were  not  many 
houses,  the  people  in  Plym¬ 
outh  were  divided  into 
nineteen  families,  and  the 
single  men  had  to  live  with 
one  or  another  of  these 
families.  A  young  man 

named  John  Alden  [awl'- 

\ 

den]  was  assigned  to  live  in 
Captain  Standish’s  house. 
a  puritan  maiden.  Some  time  after  Standish  s 


CAPTAIN  MYLES  STANDISH. 


53 


wife  died  the  captain  thought  he  would  like  to  marry  a 
young  woman  named  Priscilla  Mullins.  But  as  Standish 
was  much  older  than  Priscilla,  and  a  rough-spoken  soldier 
in  his  ways,  he  asked  his  young  friend  Alden  to  go  to  the 
Mullins  house  and  try  to  secure  Priscilla  for  him. 

It  seems  that  John  Alden  loved  Priscilla,  and  she  did 
not  dislike  him.  But  Standish  did  not  know  this,  and  poor 
Alden  felt  bound  to  do  as  the  captain  requested.  In  that 
day  the  father  of  the  young  lady  was  asked  first.  So  Alden 
went  to  Mr.  Mullins  and  told  him  what  a  brave  man  Cap¬ 
tain  Standish  was.  Then  he  asked  if  Captain  Standish 
might  marry  Priscilla. 

I  have  no  objection  to  Captain  Standish,”  said  Pris¬ 
cilla’s  father,  “but  this  is  a  matter  she  must  decide.” 

So  he  called  in  his  daughter,  and  told  her  in  Alden’s 
presence  that  the  young  man  had  come  to  ask  her  hand 
in  marriage  with  the  brave  Captain  Standish.  Priscilla 
had  no  notion  of  marrying  the  captain.  She  looked  at 
the  young  man  a  moment,  and  then  said : 

“  Why  don’t  you  speak  for  yourself,  John  ?” 

The  result  was  that  she  married  John  Alden,  and  Cap¬ 
tain  Standish  married  another  woman.  You  may  read  this 
story,  a  little  changed,  in  Longfellow’s  poem  called  “  The 
Courtship  of  Miles  Standish.” 

Per'-se-cu-ted,  punished  unjustly;  troubled  on  account  of  religion. 
Bar-ri-cade',  something  hastily  thrown  up  for  protection.  War 
whoop,  a  cry  by  which  the  Indians  try  to  frighten  their  enemies  in 
battle.  Vol'-ley,  a  discharge  of  many  small  arms  at  once.  Pes'-ti- 
lenee,  any  fatal  sickness  that  spreads  from  one  to  another,  so  that  a 
large  number  of  people  die  of  it  in  a  short  time.  Re-quest '-ed,  asked. 


54 


CAPTAIN  MYLES  STANDISH. 


Tell  in  your  own  words — 

How  the  Pilgrims  came  to  be  in  Holland. 
About  their  coming  to  America. 

Their  troubles  in  trying  to  find  a  place  to  live. 
About  their  sufferings  in  Plymouth. 

Tell — How  Standish  came  to  know  the  Pilgrims. 
Why  he  came  to  Plymouth. 

The  curious  story  of  his  courtship. 


X. 


Myles  Standish  and  the  Indians. 

The  Indians,  having  got  one  taste  of  the 
firearms  of  the  white  men,  were  afraid  to 
attack  Plymouth.  But  they  thought  that 
they  might  get  rid  of  the  white  men  by 
witchcraft.  So  they  held  what  they  called 
a  “powwow”  in  a  big  swamp,  to  per¬ 
suade  the  spirits  to  kill  or  drive  away 
the  newcomers.  Sometimes  the  Pil¬ 
grims  would  see  some  Indians  on  a  hill¬ 
top  near  Plymouth.  But  the  savages  al¬ 
ways  ran  away  as  soon  as  they  were  dis¬ 
covered.  Perhaps  they  came  to  see  whether 
the  Plymouth  people  had  all  been  killed 

DANCING  MEDICINE  MAN.  by  the  spirits. 

But  in  the  spring  a  chief  from  a  place  farther  east 
came  to  visit  the  Indians  near  Plymouth.  He  had  met 
English  fishermen  and  learned  a  little  English.  He  was 
not  afraid  to  visit  the  white  men.  Walking  boldly  into 


MYLES  STANDISH  AND  THE  INDIANS. 


55 


INDIAN 

BOW 

AND 

ARROW. 


the  little  town,  he  said,  “  Welcome,  Englishmen.” 
The  Pilgrims  were  surprised  to  hear  two  English 
words  from  the  mouth  of  an  Indian. 

They  treated  this  Indian  well,  and  he  came  again 
bringing  an  Indian  named  Squanto  [squon'-to]  who 
could  speak  more  English.  Squanto,  who  had  lived 
at  Plymouth,  was  one  of  the  Indians  carried  away 
to  Spain  by  Captain  Hunt.  From  Spain  he  had 
been  taken  to  England,  and  then  brought  back  to 
America.  When  he  got  home  to  Plymouth  he  found 
that  all  the  people  of  his  village  had  died  of  the 
pestilence. 

Squanto  now  came  again  to  the  old  home  of  his 
people  at  Plymouth  and  lived  with  the  Pilgrims.  He 
showed  the  English  a  way  to  catch  eels  by  treading 
them  out  of  the  mud  with  his  feet.  He  knew 
the  woods  and  waters  well,  and  he  showed 
them  how  to  hunt  and  fish.  He  taught  them 
how  to  plant  Indian  corn  as  the  Indians  did, 
putting  a  fish  or  two  in  every  hill  for  ma¬ 
nure,  and  then  watching  the  fields  for  a  while 
to  keep  the  wolves  from  digging  up  the 
buried  fish.  Without  the  seed  corn  and  the 
help  of  Squanto  the  whole  colony  would 
have  starved. 

Squanto  liked  to  make  himself  important 
among  the  Indians  by  boasting  of  the  power 
of  his  friends  the  white  men.  He  talked  about  the  dread¬ 
ful  gunpowder  kept  in  the  cellar  at  Plymouth.  He  also 


SQUANTO 
CATCHING  EELS. 


56 


MYLES  STAND1SH  AND  THE  INDIANS. 


told  them  that  the  horrid  pestilence  was  kept  in  the  same 
cellar  with  the  powder. 

Massasoit  [mas'-sa-soit],  the  chief  of  Squanto’s  tribe, 
came  to  see  the  Pilgrims,  bringing  some  other  Indians  with 
him.  They  were  taken  into  the  largest  house  in  Plymouth 
and  seated  on  a  green  mat  and  some  cushions.  The  Gov¬ 
ernor  of  the  colony  was  then  brought  in  while  the  trum¬ 
pets  were  blowing  and  the  drums  beating.  This  parade 
pleased  the  Indians,  but  they  were  much  afraid  of  the 
Plymouth  people.  Afterwards  the  Pilgrims  sent  Massasoit  a 
red  cotton  coat  and  a  copper  chain,  and  by  degrees  a  firm 
friendship  was  made  between  him  and  the  white  men. 

Captain  Standish  was  a  little  man,  and  one  of  his  ene¬ 
mies  once  nicknamed  him  “  Captain  Shrimp.”  But  the 
Indians  soon  learned  to  be  afraid  of  him.  When  a  chief 
near  by  threatened  to  trouble  the  Pilgrims  and  kill  Squan- 
to,  Standish  marched  to  the  spot  and  surrounded  his  wig¬ 
wam.  Having  fired  on  the  Indians  and  frightened  them, 
he  took  three  whom  he  had  wounded  back  to  Plymouth 
with  him.  The  white  people  cured  their  wounds  and  sent 
them  home  again. 

The  Nar-ra-gan'-sett  Indians  were  enemies  of  Massasoit. 
None  of  their  people  had  died  of  the  pestilence,  and  they 
were  therefore  stronger  than  Massasoit’s  tribe.  The  Narra- 
gansetts  sent  a  bundle  of  arrows  to  Plymouth  tied  up  in  a 
snake’s  skin.  Squanto  told  the  English  that  this  meant  to 
say  that  they  would  come  and  make  war  on  Plymouth. 
The  Pilgrims  filled  the  snake’s  skin  with  bullets,  and  sent 
it  back.  This  was  to  say,  ”  Shoot  your  arrows  at  us  and  we 


MYLES  STANDISH  AND  THE  INDIANS. 


will  kill  you  with  our  bullets.  ”  The  Narragan- 
setts  were  so  afraid  of  the  bullets  that  they  sent 
them  back  to  Plymouth,  and  there  was  no  war. 

When  the  Pilgrims  had  been  settled  at  Plym¬ 
outh  more  than  a  year,  a  ship  brought  them  news 
of  the  dreadful  massacre  that  had  taken  place  in 
Virginia.  The  Pilgrims  were  afraid  something 
of  the  kind  might  happen  to  them.  So  Cap-  ■ 
tain  Standish  trained  the  Plymouth  men,  and  I 
they  kept  guard  every  night.  They  put  can-  i| 
non  on  the  roof  of  their  meetinghouse  and  ff 
carried  their  guns  to  church. 

A  company  of  people  from  England  made  a 
settlement  at  Weymouth  [way'-muth],  not  very 
far  from  Plymouth.  They  were  rude  and  famil¬ 
iar,  and  the  Indians  soon  despised  them.  Some 
Indian  warriors  made  a  plan  to  kill  them  all. 
They  intended  to  kill  the  Plymouth  people  at 
the  same  time.  But  Massasoit  told  the  Pilgrims 
about  it,  and  said  they  must  go  and  kill  the  lead¬ 
ers  before  they  had  a  chance  to  kill  the  white  men. 
t  Captain  Standish  set  out  for  the  colony  at 
Weymouth.  He  took  but  few  men,  so  that  the 
Indians  might  not  guess  what  he  came  for.  But 
they  saw  that  the  little  captain  was  very  “  angry 
in  his  heart,”  as  they  said.  Seeing  how  few  his 
men  were,  they  tried  to  frighten  him. 

One  of  these  Indians  named  Wittamut  sharp¬ 
ened  the  knife  which  he  wore  hanging  about  his 


58 


MYLES  STANDISH  AND  THE  INDIANS. 


neck.  While  sharpening  it  he  said  to  Captain  Standish: 
“  This  is  a  good  knife.  On  the  handle  is  the  picture  of  a 
woman’s  face.  But  I  have  another  knife  at  home  with 
which  I  have  killed  both  Frenchmen  and  Englishmen. 
That  knife  has  a  man’s  face  on  it.  After  a  while  these  two 
will  get  married.” 

A  large  Indian  named  Pecksuot  said:  “You  are  a  cap¬ 
tain,  but  you  are  a  little  man.  I  am  not  a  chief,  but  I  am 
strong  and  brave.” 


It  was  now  a  question  whether  Standish  would  attack 
the  Indians  or  wait  for  them  to  begin.  One  day  when 
Wittamut,  Pecksuot,  and  two  other  Indians  were  in  the 
room  with  Standish  and  some  of  his  men,  the  captain  made 

a  signal,  and  himself  snatched  the  knife 
that  hung  on  Pecksuot’s  neck  and  stabbed 
him  to  death  after  a  terrible  struggle. 
His  men  killed  the  other  Indians  in  the 
same  way.  The  rest  of  their  tribe 
fled  to  the  woods  for  fear,  and 
after  that  the  English 
were  called  “  stabbers  ” 
in  the  Indian  language. 
The  Pilgrims  were  often 
very  near  to  starvation  dur¬ 
ing  the  first  years  after  they 

A  PLYMOUTH  SETTLER  GETTING  HlS  DINNER.  &  J  J 

settled  at  Plymouth.  At  one 
time  they  lived  on  clams  and  lobsters  and  such  fish  as 
they  could  catch.  Standish  made  many  voyages  along 
the  coast,  trading  with  the  Indians  for  furs,  which  were 


MYLES  STANDISH  AND  THE  INDIANS. 


59 


sent  to  England  and  exchanged  for  whatever  the  settlers 
might  need. 

A  few  years  after  the  Pilgrims  settled  Plymouth  people 
began  to  settle  near  them,  and  in  1630  there  came  over  a 
large  number  of  people,  who  founded  Boston  and  other 
Massachusetts  towns.  Captain  Standish  lived  to  be  more 
than  seventy  years  old  and  to  see  many  thousands  of  people 
in  New  England.  He  owned  a  place  at  Duxbury,  just 
across  the  bay  from  Plymouth.  He  died  there  in  1656. 
The  hill  which  he  owned  is  still  called  “  Captain’s  Hill.’9 

1 

Witch '-craft,  the  use  of  charms  or  ceremonies  in  order  to  persuade 
the  spirits  to  do  some  wonderful  thing.  Pow'-wow,  mysterious  cere¬ 
monies  practiced  by  the  Indians.  Shrimp,  a  creature  resembling  a  lob¬ 
ster,  but  smaller ;  a  little  wrinkled  man.  Sig'-nal,  a  sign  given  to  another. 

Tell  in  your  own  words — 

How  the  Indians  tried  to  get  rid  of  the  white  men. 

How  the  first  Indian  came  to  Plymouth. 

About  Squanto. 

About  Massasoit. 

About  the  Narragansetts. 

How  and  why  Standish  killed  certain  Indians. 

About  the  beginning  of  Boston. 


XL 


William  Penn. 

WILLIAM  Penn,  who  founded  Pennsylvania,  was  born  in 
London,  England,  in  1644.  He  was  the  only  son  of  Admiral 
William  Penn.  Admiral  Penn  had  become  a  captain  before 
he  was  twenty,  and  had  distinguished  himself  in  naval  bat- 


6o 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


ties.  He  was  a  rich  man,  lived  fashionably,  and  was  re¬ 
ceived  at  court.  He  wanted  to  make  his  son  William  a 
man  of  importance  in  the  world  like  himself.  So  William 
Penn  was  carefully  educated.  When  he  was  at  Oxford  he 
heard  a  man  named  Thomas  Loe  preach  against  such  things 
as  the  wearing  of  gowns  by  students.  It  had  been  the  cus¬ 
tom  for  the  students  in  the  col¬ 
leges  at  Oxford  to  wear  gowns ; 
but  the  Puritans,  who  ruled 
England  after  Charles  I  was 
beheaded,  forbade  this,  having 
a  notion  that  it  was  wicked. 
When  King  Charles  II  was  re¬ 
stored  to  the  throne,  the  stu¬ 
dents  were  again  required  to 
put  on  gowns.  Under  the  in- 
tearing  off  a  student’s  gown.  fluence  of  Loe’s  preaching,  Penn 

and  some  other  young  men  refused  to  dress  in  this  way, 
and  they  even  went  so  far  as  to  tear  off  the  gowns  of  other 
students.  For  this  Penn  was  expelled  from  the  university. 

William  Penn’s  father  was  very  angry  with  his  son 
when  he  came  home  expelled.  He  was  afraid  that  his  son 
would  join  the  Friends,  or  Quakers,  who  not  only  refused 
to  take  part  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  English  Church,  but 
also  refused  to  serve  the  king  as  soldiers,  believing  war  to 
be  wicked.  They  would  not  make  oath  in  court,  nor  would 
they  take  off  their  hats  to  anybody.  Admiral  Penn  did  not 
like  to  see  his  son  adopt  the  opinions  and  ways  of  a  people 
so  much  despised  and  persecuted. 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


6 1 


Hoping  that  William  would  forget  these  impressions,  he 
sent  him  to  France.  Here  young  Penn  was  presented  at 
the  court  of  Louis  XIV,  and  here  he  finished  his  educa¬ 
tion.  He  then  traveled  in  Italy,  and  returned  to  England 
when  he  was  twenty  years  old.  His  father  was  well 
pleased  to  see  that  he  had  improved  in  manners,  and 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  his  Quaker  ideas. 

He  was  presented  at  the  court  of  Charles  II,  and  became 
a  law  student.  He  also  carried  dispatches  from  his  father’s 
fleet  to  the  king.  In  1665  the  plague  broke  out  in  London, 
and  in  these  sad  times  William  Penn’s  religious  feelings 
began  to  return. 

His  father,  hoping  to  give  him  something  else  to  think 
about,  sent  him  to  Ireland  to  attend  to  some  land  which 
belonged  to  the  admiral.  Here  he  was  presented  at  the 
court  of  the  viceroy,  the  Duke  of  Ormond. 

He  served  as  a  soldier  for  a  little  while  dur¬ 
ing  an  insurrection.  You  will  see  that  his 
portrait  was  painted  in  armor,  after 
the  fashion  of  fine  gentlemen  of  that 
time.  But  while  Penn  was  in  Ire¬ 
land,  he  heard  that  Thomas  Loe,  , 
whose  preaching  had  affected  him  so 
much  when  he  was  a  student,  was  to 
in  Cork.  Penn  went  to  hear 
him ;  all  his  old  feelings  revived,  and  he 

WILLIAM  PENN  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN. 

became  a  Friend.  He  now  attended  the 

meetings  of  the  Friends,  or  Quakers,  for  which  he  was  at 
length  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison  with  the  rest  of  the 


62 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


congregation.  He  was  afterwards  set  free.  His  father, 
nearing  of  what  his  son  had  been  doing,  sent  for  him. 

Admiral  Penn  was  very  angry  with  William,  but  he  told 

him  that  he  would  forgive  him 
everything  else  if  he  would  take 
off  his  hat  to  his  father,  to  the 
king,  and  to  the  king’s  broth¬ 
er,  the  Duke  of  York.  Will¬ 
iam  took  some  time  to  think 
of  it,  and  then  told  his  father 
that  he  could  not  promise  even 
this.  The  admiral  then  turned 
his  son  out  of  doors.  But  his 
mother  sent  him  money,  and  after 
a  time  he  was  allowed  to  come 
home,  but  not  to  see  his  father. 

William  Penn  presently  began  to  preach  and  write  in 
favor  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Friends.  He  soon  got  into 
trouble,  and  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower 
of  London  for  eight  months.  The 
Duke  of  York  was  a  great  friend 
of  William  Penn’s  father,  and 
he  finally  got  Penn  released 
from  the  Tower.  The  father 
now  gave  up  opposing  his 
son’s  religion.  William  Penn  was  ar¬ 
rested  again  in  about  a  year  for  preach¬ 
ing  in  the  street.  He  was  tried,  and  spoke  for  himself 
very  boldly  in  court.  The  jury,  after  listening  to  him, 


PENN  THINKS  IT  WRONG 
TO  TAKE  OFF  HIS  HAT  TO  HIS  FATHER. 


TOWER  OF  LONDON. 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


63 


PENN  APPEALS  TO  THE  JURY. 

would  not  bring  in  any  verdict  but  that  he  was  guilty  of 
speaking  in  the  street. 

The  judges  were  very  angry  with  the  jury,  but  the 
jurymen  would  not  change  their  verdict.  The  judges  of 
that  day  were  very  tyrannical.  The  jurymen  in  this  case 
were  fined,  and  sent  to  prison  along  with  William  Penn, 
who  was  imprisoned  for  wearing  his  hat  in  court.  Soon 
after  Penn  was  released,  his  father  died.  The  admiral 
asked  the  Duke  of  York  to  befriend  his  son,  who,  he 
feared,  would  always  be  in  trouble. 

Penn  now  traveled  in  England,  Wales,  Ireland,  Holland, 
and  Germany,  on  his  preaching  journeys.  He  used  all  the 


04 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


influence  he  had  at  court  with  the  king  and  the  king’s 
brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  to  get  Quakers  and  other  perse¬ 
cuted  people  out  of  prison. 

The  American  colonies  had  come  to  be  a  place  for  peo¬ 
ple  of  all  religions  to  flee  to  when  they  were  troubled  in 
England.  Some  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends — Penn 
among  others — began  to  be  interested  in  West  Jersey,  a 
part  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  as  a  place 
of  refuge  for  Quakers. 

The  English  Government  owed  Penn’s  father  a  large 
sum  of  money.  Charles  II  was  in  debt,  and  found  it  hard 
to  pay  what  he  owed,  so  at  length  Penn  persuaded  the 
king  to  grant  him  a  tract  of  land  on  the  west  side  of  the 


Delaware  River.  The  king 
ned  this  Pennsylvania,, 


in  honor  of  Admiral  Penn. 


William  Penn  made  the  laws  of 
his  colony  such  that  nobody  in  it 
would  be  troubled  because  of  his 
religion.  He  sent  some  colonists 


there  in  1 68 1 .  Some  of  the  people 
dug  holes  in  the  river  bank  to  live 
in  when  they  first  reached  Penn¬ 
sylvania.  Penn  himself  came  the 


next  year,  and  laid  out  a  city,  naming  it  Philadelphia, 
which  means  “  Brotherly  Love.” 

William  Penn  managed  the  Indians  well,  and  for  many 
years  after  his  death  Pennsylvania  had  no  wars.  Penn  made 
a  treaty  with  the  Indians  under  a  large  elm,  in  1682.  The 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


woods  were  filled  with  savages,  all  armed  and  painted. 
The  Quakers  were  but  a  handful.  They  wore  neither  weap¬ 
ons  nor  ornaments,  except  that 
Penn  had  a  sky-blue  sash  around 
his  waist.  The  Indians  seat¬ 
ed  themselves  on  the  ground 
around  their  various  chiefs 
in  the  form  of  half-moons. 

When  Penn  was  a  young 
man  he  had  been  famous 
for  his  skill  in  jumping  and 
other  exercises.  Finding 
the  Indians  engaged  in  a 
jumping  match  one  day,  he 
took  part  with  them,  and 
they  were  much  pleased  to 
have  the  great  governor 
share  in  their  sport.  Pennsylvania  grew  much  faster  than 
any  of  the  other  colonies.  The  government  established 
by  Penn  was  free,  the  Indians  were  friendly,  and  the 
land  was  sold  in  small  farms,  so  that  poor  men  could  own 
their  farms.  People,  therefore,  liked  to  settle  in  Penn’s 
colony. 

After  two  years  William  Penn  went  back  to  England. 
King  Charles  II  died  soon  after.  William  Penn’s  friend, 
the  Duke  of  York,  now  became  king  as  James  II,  and  Penn 
was  seen  a  great  deal  in  the  palace.  He  got  the  Friends 
relieved  from  all  their  troubles,  but  he  came  to  be  hated  a 
great  deal  by  those  who  disliked  King  James.  When  this 


PENN  AND  THE  INDIANS. 


66 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


king  was  driven  from  England,  and  King  William  and 
Queen  Mary  were  set  up  in  his  stead,  Penn  was  very 
much  suspected  of  wishing  to  bring  James  back.  He  was 
arrested  several  times,  but  nothing  could  be  proved  against 
him.  The  control  of  Pennsylvania  was  taken  from  him 
also,  but  this  was  afterwards  restored. 

Penn  returned  to  Pennsylvania  in  1699.  He  was  once 
taking  a  journey  through  his  province  when  he  met  a  little 
girl  named  Rebecca  Wood  going  to  “  meeting’ ’  on  foot. 
He  took  the  little  girl  up  behind  him  on  his  horse,  and  the 
great  proprietor  of  Pennsylvania  was  seen  riding  gravely 
along  with  the  bare  legs  and  feet  of  a  poor  little  girl  dan¬ 
gling  at  his  horse’s  side. 

Penn  returned  again  to  England,  and,  after  many  years, 
died  in  1718.  His  descendants  appointed  the  governors  of 
Pennsylvania  until  the  Revolution. 


WAMPUM  BELT  GIVEN  BY  THE  INDIANS  TO  WILLIAM  PENN. 


Na'-val  bat '-ties,  battles  between  ships  at  sea.  U'-ni-ver'-si-ty, 
a  title  given  to  all  the  colleges  at  Oxford  taken  together.  Ex-pelled', 
turned  out.  Dis-pateh'-es,  written  messages.  The  plague,  a  terrible 
disease  which  in  old  times  caused  the  death  of  many  thousands  of  peo¬ 
ple.  Viee'-roy,  one  who  governs  a  kingdom  or  province  in  place  of  a 
king.  Re-vived',  came  to  life  again.  Ju'-ry,  a  company  of  men, 
usually  twelve  in  number,  selected  to  hear  testimony  and  decide  a  case. 
Ju'-ry-men,  the  members  of  a  jury.  Ver'-diet,  the  decision  of  a  jury. 
Ty-ran'-nie-al,  overbearing,  like  a  tyrant.  Pal'-ace,  the  house  of  a 
king.  Pro-pri '-e-tor,  owner. 


WILLIAM  PENN. 


67 


Tell  all  you  can  remember  about — 

How  William  Penn  became  a  Friend. 

William  Penn  and  his  father. 

Penn’s  troubles  as  a  Quaker  preacher. 

How  Penn  got  Pennsylvania. 

The  settlement  of  Philadelphia  and  Pennsylvania. 
Penn’s  life  afterwards. 


XII. 

King  Philip. 

WHEN  the  Pilgrims  first  came  to  New  England  they 
found  that  the  nearest  tribe  of  Indians,  the  Wam-pa-no'-ags, 
of  which  Massasoit  was  chief,  had  been  much  reduced  in 
number  by  a  dreadful  sickness.  The  bones  of  the  dea'd  lay 
bleaching  on  the  ground. 

The  next  neighbors  to  the  Wampanoags  were  the  Nar- 
ragansetts.  These  had  not  been  visited  by  the  great  sick¬ 
ness,  but  were  as  numerous  and  strong  as  ever.  Massasoit 
was,  therefore,  very  glad  to  have  the  English,  with  their 
strange  guns  and  long  swords,  near  him,  to  protect  his  peo¬ 
ple  from  the  Narragansetts. 

The  two  sons  of  Massasoit  had  been  named  by  the  white 
people  Alexander  and  Philip,  and  they  were  very  proud  of 
their  names.  These  young  men  remained  friendly  to  the 
settlers  for  some  time  after  their  father’s  death.  But  many 
things  made  the  Indians  discontented.  They  readily  sold 
their  lands  to  the  white  people  for  blankets,  hatchets,  toys, 
and  such  things.  The  ground  was  all  covered  with  woods, 
and,  as  they  used  it  only  for  hunting,  it  was  of  little  value. 


68 


KING  PHILIP. 


But  when  they  saw  how  much  the  white  men  made  out  of 
it  they  wished  to  be  paid  over  again. 

Many  of  this  tribe  of  Indians  became  Christians  through 
the  preaching  of  John  Eliot,  who  was  called  “  The  Apostle 
to  the  Indians/  These  were  called  “  praying  Indians/’ 
They  settled  in  villages  and  tried  to  live  like  white  people, 
though  they  continued  to  dwell  in  bark  houses,  because 
they  found  that  the  easiest  way  to  clean  house  was  to  leave 
the  old  one  and  build  a  new  one.  They  no  longer  followed 
their  chiefs  or  respected  the  charms  of  the  medicine  men. 
It  made  the  great  men  among  the  Indians  angry  to  see  their 
people  leave  them. 

The  young  chief  Alexander  began  to  show  ill  feeling 
toward  the  white  people.  The  rulers  of  Plymouth  Colony 

took  harsh  measures  with  him.  They 
sent  some  soldiers  and  brought  him 
to  Plymouth  to  answer  for  his  con¬ 
duct.  When  this  proud  Indian  saw 
himself  arrested  and  degraded  in  this 
|  way  he  felt  it  bitterly.  He  was, 
taken  sick  at  Plymouth,  and  died 
soon  after  he  got  home. 

The  Indians  imagined  that  Alex¬ 
ander  had  died  of  poison  given  him 
by  white  men.  Some  time  afterwards 
the  white  people  heard  that  Alexan¬ 
der’s  brother,  Philip,  was  sharpening  hatchets  and  knives. 
They  immediately  sent  for  him,  and  forced  him  and  his 
men  to  give  up  the  seventy  guns  they  had  brought  with 


ARREST  OF  ALEXANDER. 


KING  PHILIP. 


69 


them.  They  also  made  Philip  promise  to  send  in  all  the 
other  guns  his  men  had. 

When  the  white  people  first  came,  the  Indians  had  noth¬ 
ing  to  shoot  with  but  bows  and  arrows.  In  Philip's  time 
they  had  given  up  bows, 
finding  guns  much  better 
for  killing  game.  You  may 
be  sure  that  when  Philip 
once  got  away  from  the 
white  people  he  did  not  send 
in  any  more  guns.  But  he 
hid  his  anger,  as  an  Indian 
always  does,  and  waited  for 
a  chance  to  strike. 

Though  Philip  lived  in  a  1 
common,  dirty  wigwam,  and 
was  probably  often  in  need  of  food,  he  was  called  King 
Philip,  and  he  proudly  called  himself  a  king  and  thought 
himself  as  great  a  man  as  the  King  of  England.  He  had  a 
coat  made  of  shell  beads,  or  wampum.  These  beads  were 
made  by  breaking  and  polishing  little  bits  of  hard-clam 
shells,  and  then  boring  a  hole  through  them  with  a  stone 
awl,  as  you  see  in  the  picture.  Wampum  was  used  for 
money  among  the  Indians,  and  even  among  the  white  peo¬ 
ple  at  that  time.  Such  a  coat  as  Philip’s  was  very  valuable. 
Philip  dressed  himself,  also,  in  a  showy  red  blanket;  he 
wore  a  belt  of  wampum  about  his  head  and  another  long 
belt  of  wampum  around  his  neck,  the  ends  of  which  dangled 
nearly  to  the  ground. 


BORING  WAMPUM. 


70 


KING  PHILIP. 


WAMPUM  BELT. 


The  quarrel  between  the  white  people  and  the  Indians 
grew  more  bitter.  An  Indian,  who  had  told  the  white  men 
of  Philip’s  plans,  was  put  to  death,  probably  by  Philip’s 
order.  The  white  people  hanged  the  Indians  who  had 
killed  their  friend. 

The  Indians  under  Philip  were  now  resolved  on  war. 
But  their  medicine  men,  or  priests,  who  pretended  to  talk 
with  spirits,  told  them  that  whichever  side  should  shed 
the  first  blood  would  be  beaten  in  the  war.  The  Indians 
burned  houses  and  robbed  farms,  but  they  took  pains  not 
to  kill  anybody,  until  a  white  man  had  wounded  an  In¬ 
dian.  Then,  when  blood  had  been  shed,  they  began  to  kill 
the  white  people. 

This  Indian  war  broke  out  in  1675.  The  New  England 
people  lived  at  that  time  in  villages,  most  of  them  not  very 
far  from  the  sea.  The  more  exposed  towns  were  struck 
first.  The  people  took  refuge  in  strong  houses,  which  were 
built  to  resist  the  Indians.  But  everywhere  those  who 
moved  about  were  killed.  Some  were  shot  in  going  for 
water,  others  were  slain  as  they  ran  out  after  the  savages 
had  set  fire  to  their  houses. 

The  white  men  sent  out  troops,  but  the  Indians  some- 


KING  PHILIP. 


71 


times  waylaid  soldiers  and  killed  them  suddenly.  Philip 
cut  up  his  fine  wampum  coat  and  sent  the  bead  money  of 
which  it  was  made  to  neighboring  chiefs  to  persuade  them 
to  join  him.  Soon  other  tribes,  anxious  to  share  in  the 
plunder  and  slaughter,  entered  the  fight. 

As  the  Indians  grew  bolder,  they  attacked  the  white 
men  in  their  forts  or  blockhouses.  At  Brookfield  they 
shot  burning  arrows  on  the  roof  of  the  blockhouse,  but 
the  white  men  tore  off  the  shingles  and  put  out  the 
fire.  Then  the  savages  crept  up  and  lighted  a  fire  under 
one  corner  of  the  house;  but  the  men  inside  made  a 
dash  and  drove  back  the  enemy  and  put  the  fire  out. 
Then  the  Indians  made  a  cart  with  a  barrel  for  a  wheel. 
They  loaded  this  with  straw  and  lighted  it,  and  backed 
the  blazing  mass  up  against  the  house,  sheltering  them¬ 
selves  behind  it.  Luckily  a  shower  came  up  at  that  mo¬ 
ment  and  put  out  the  fire. 


A  very  curious  thing  happened  at  Hadley.  An  old 
gentleman  named  General  Goffe  was  hid  away  in  a  house 
in  that  town.  He  was  one  of  the  judges  that  had  con¬ 
demned  Charles  I  to  death  twenty-six  years  before.  When 
the  son  of  King  Charles  I  came  to  be  king  he  put  to  death 


72 


KING  PHILIP. 


such  of  these  judges  as  he  could  find,  and  Goffe  had  to 
flee  from  England  and  hide.  Nobody  in  the  village  knew 
that  Goffe  was  there,  except  those  who  entertained  him. 
While  all  the  people  were  at  church  one  Sunday,  the  old 

general  ventured  to  look  out 
of  the  window,  which  he  did 
not  dare  to  do  at  other  times. 
He  saw  the  Indians  coming 
to  attack  the  town.  He  rushed 
out  and  gave  the  alarm,  and, 
with  long  white  hair  and  beard 
streaming  in  the  wind,  the 
old  soldier  took  command 
of  the  villagers,  who  soon 
drove  back  the  savages. 
But  when  the  fight  was  over,  the 
people  could  not  find  the  old 


GENERAL  GOFFE  SAVES  HADLEY. 


man  who  had  led  them,  nor  did  they  know  who  he  was 
or  where  he  came  from.  They  said  that  a  messenger  had 
been  sent  from  heaven  to  deliver  them. 

The  powerful  tribe  of  the  Narragansetts  promised  to 
remain  peaceable,  but  young  savages  are  too  fond  of  war 
to  miss  a  chance  to  engage  in  a  battle.  Some  of  the  Nar¬ 
ragansetts  joined  Philip,  and  their  great  fort  was  a  refuge 
for  Philip’s  men.  They  were  probably  waiting  for  spring 
to  come  before  openly  joining  in  the  war. 

The  white  men  resolved  to  strike  the  first  blow  against 
them  while  it  was  yet  winter.  A  thousand  men  from  Mas¬ 
sachusetts  and  Connecticut  pushed  through  the  snow  and 


KING  PHILIP. 


7  3 


made  a  desperate  assault  by  night  on  the  Narragansett 
town,  which  was  inside  a  fortification  having  but  one 
entrance,  and  that  by  a  bridge.  Nearly  two  hundred  of 
the  white  men  were  killed  in  this  fight,  and  many  hun¬ 
dreds  of  Indians  were  slain,  and  their  fort  and  all  their 
provisions  were  burned.  The  white  men  marched  back, 
carrying  their  wounded  through  the  bitter  cold. 

The  Narragansetts  took  a  terrible  revenge.  They  joined 
Philip  at  once.  Towns  were  now  burned  and  people  killed 
in  every  direction.  The  white  men  in  armor  could  not 
catch  the  nimble  Indians,  who  massacred  the  people  in 
one  village  only  to  disappear  and  strike  another  village  far 
away.  Many  women  and  children  were  carried  into  cap¬ 
tivity  by  the  Indians. 

Bleach'-ing,  whitening.  Apostle  [a-pos'-s’l],  one  sent  on  an  im¬ 
portant  religious  mission.  Charm,  an  object  or  ceremony  supposed  to 
have  magical  powers.  Way-lay',  to  watch  for  an  enemy  by  hiding  near 
the  way  along  which  he  must  pass.  Bloek'-house,  a  house  built  of  logs 
closely  fitted  together  and  arranged  for  defending  those  in  it.  Colonel 
[kur'-nel],  an  officer  who  commands  a  regiment  of  soldiers. 


Tell  what  you  can — 

About  the  father  and  brother  of  King  Philip. 

About  the  quarrels  between  white  men  and  Indians. 

About  how  the  war  began. 

About  blockhouses,  and  how  the  Indians  attacked  the  people  in 
them. 

About  the  fight  with  the  Narragansetts. 

Also  tell — How  wampum  was  made. 

What  wampum  was  used  for. 

What  you  know  about  the  medicine  men. 

About  Colonel  Goffe. 


74 


CAPTAIN  CHURCH  IN  PHILIP’S  WAR. 


XIII. 

Captain  Church  in  Philip’s  War. 

The  white  men  had  not  learned  how  to  fight  the  In¬ 
dians,  who  moved  swiftly  from  place  to  place,  and  hid 
themselves  in  the  darkest  swamps.  But  at  last  the  man 
was  found  who  could  battle  with  the  Indians  in  their  own 
way.  This  was  Captain  Benjamin  Church. 

Church  could  not  only  fight  the  Indians,  but  he  knew 
how  to  make  them  his  friends.  One  tribe,  not  far  from 

his  home,  was  un¬ 
der  the  control  of  a 
squaw  sachem,  or 
woman  chief.  Her 
name  was  Awa- 
shonks.  She  and 
Benjamin  Church 
were  good  friends, 
and  after  the  war 
broke  out  Church 
tried  to  go  to  see 
her,  but  some  of  the 
Indians  of  her  tribe  who  were  friendly  to  Philip  attacked 
Church  and  his  men,  so  that  they  had  to  hide  behind  a 
fence  till  a  boat  came  and  took  them  away. 

Later  in  the  war,  Church  sent  word  to  Awashonks 
that  he  would  meet  her  and  four  other  Indians  at  a 
certain  place.  But  the  rulers  of  Plymouth  Colony  thought 
it  too  dangerous  for  Church  to  go  to  see  the  squaw 


CAPTAIN  CHURCH  IN.  PHILIP'S  WAR. 


75 


sachem.  They  would  not  give  him  any  men  for  such  an 
expedition. 

However,  Church  went  on  his  own  account,  with  one 
white  man  and  three  Indians.  He  took  some  tobacco  and  a 
bottle  of  rum  as  presents  suited  to  the  taste  of  this  Indian 
queen.  Church  ventured  ashore,  leaving  his  canoe  to  stand 
off  at  a  safe  distance,  so  that  if  he  should  be  killed  the  men 
in  the  canoe  might  carry  the  news  to  the  white  people. 
Awashonks  and  the  four  Indians  met  him  and  thanked  him 
for  venturing  among  them.  But  soon  a  great  number  of 
warriors,  frightfully  painted  and  armed,  rose  up  out  of  the 
tall  grass  and  surrounded  Captain  Church.  The  captain 
knew  that  if  he  showed  himself  frightened  he  would  be 
killed. 

Have  you  not  met  me  to  talk  about  peace  ?  ”  he  said  to 
Awashonks. 

“  Yes,”  said  Awashonks. 

“  When  people  meet  to  talk  of  peace  they  lay  down  their 
arms,”  said  Captain  Church. 

The  Indians  now  began  to  look  surly  and  to  mutter 
something. 

If  you  will  put  aside  your  guns,  that  will  do,”  said 
Church. 

The  Indian  warriors  laid  down  their  guns  and  squatted 
on  the  grass.  During  the  discussion  some  of  them  grew  ' 
angry,  and  one  fellow  with  a  wooden  tomahawk  wished  to 
kill  Church,  but  the  others  pushed  him  away.  The  captain 
succeeded  in  making  peace  with  this  tribe,  who  agreed  to 
take  the  side  of  the  English  against  Philip. 


76 


CAPTAIN  CHURCH  IN  PHILIP’S  WAR. 


cJ'A. 


Awashonks  held  a  war  dance  after  this,  and  Church  at¬ 
tended.  The  Indians  lighted  a  great  bonfire,  and  moved 
about  it  in  rings.  One  of  the  braves  stepped  inside  the 
circle  and  called  out  the  name  of  one  of  the  tribes 
fighting  on  Philip’s  side  against  the  white 
people.  Then  he  pulled  a  firebrand  out 
of  the  fire  to  represent  that  tribe,  and 
he  made  a  show  of  fighting  with  the  fire¬ 
brand.  Every  time  the  name  of  a  tribe 
was  called,  a  firebrand  was  drawn  out 
and  attacked  in  this  way. 

After  this  ceremony  Church  could  call 
on  as  many  of  these  Indians  as  he  wished 
to  help  him  against  Philip.  With  small  bands 
of  these  Indians  and  a  few  white  men  Cap¬ 
tain  Church  scoured  the  woods,  capturing  a 
great  many  Indian  prisoners. 

From  the  prisoners  that  he  took,  Church 
chose  certain  ones  and  made  them  sol¬ 
diers  under  him.  He  would  say  to  one  of  these  men: 
“  Come!  come!  You  look  wild,  and  mutter.  That  doesn’t 
matter.  The  best  soldiers  I  have  got  were  as  wild  and 
surly  as  you  a  little  while  ago.  By  the  time  you’ve  been 
one  day  with  me  you’ll  love  me,  too,  and  be  as  active  as 
any  of  them.” 

And  it  always  turned  out  so.  The  captain  was  so  jolly, 
and  yet  so  bold  and  so  successful,  that  the  savage  whom  he 
chose  to  help  him  would  presently  do  anything  for  him, 
even  to  capturing  his  own  friends. 


FIGHTING  A  FIREBRAND. 


CAPTAIN  CHURCH  IN  PHILIP’S  WAR. 


77 


At  last  so  many  of  Philip's  Indians  were  taken  that 
Philip  himself  was  fleeing  from  swamp  to  swamp  to  avoid 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  white  men.  But  he  grew 
fiercer  as  he  grew  more  desperate.  He  killed  one  of  his 
men  for  telling  him  that  he  ought  to  make  peace  with  the 
white  men.  The  brother  of  the  man  whom  he  killed  ran 
away  from  Philip,  and  came  into  the  settlement  to  tell  the 
white  people  where  to  find  that  chief. 

Captain  Church  had  just  come  from  chasing  Philip  to 
make  a  short  visit  to  his  wife.  The  poor  woman  had  been 
so  anxious  for  her  husband's  safety  that  she  fainted  when 
she  saw  him.  By  the  time  she  had  recovered  the  Indian 
deserter  came  to  tell  Church  where  Philip  could  be  found, 
and  the  captain  galloped  off  at  once. 

Church  placed  his  men  near  the  swamp  in  which 
Philip  was  hidden.  The  Indians  took  the  alarm  and  fled. 
In  running  away  Philip  ran  straight  toward  Church's 
hidden  men,  and  was  shot  by  the  very  Indian  whose 
brother  he  had  killed.  His  head  was  cut  off  and  stuck 
up  over  a  gatepost  at  Plymouth.  Such  was  the  ugly  cus¬ 
tom  in  that  day. 

Philip’s  chief  captain,  Annawon,  got  away  with  a  con¬ 
siderable  number  of  Indians.  Church  and  half  a  dozen  of 
his  Indian  scouts  captured  an  old  Indian  and  a  young 
squaw  who  belonged  to  Annawon's  party.  They  made 
these  two  walk  ahead  of  them  carrying  baskets,  while 
Church  and  his  men  crept  behind  them.  In  this  way  they 
got  down  a  steep  bank  right  into  the  camp  of  Annawon, 
whose  party  was  much  stronger  than  Church’s.  But  Church 


78 


CAPTAIN  CHURCH  IN  PHILIP'S  WAR. 


boldly  seized  the 
guns  of  the  In¬ 
dians,  which  were 
stacked  together. 

I  am  taken/’ 
cried  Annawon. 

What  have  you 
got  for  supper?” 
asked  Church.  “  I 
have  come  to  sup 
with  you.” 

Annawon  or¬ 
dered  the  women 
to  hurry  up  sup¬ 
per,  and  when  it 
was  ready  he  asked 
Church  whether  he 

INDIAN  WOMAN  CARRYING  BASKET. 

would  have  “  horse 

beef”  or  ”  cow  beef.  ”  Church  preferred  to  eat  cow  beef. 

The  captain  told  his  Indians  to  stand  guard  while  he 
tried  to  get  a  nap.  But  soon  all  were  fast  asleep  except 
Church  and  Annawon,  who  lay  eying  each  other.  Present¬ 
ly,  Annawon  got  up  and  walked  away.  Church  moved  all 
the  Indians’  guns  close  to  himself.  He  thought  that  the  old 
chief  might  have  gone  for  another  gun,  and  he  lay  down 
beside  the  chief’s  son,  so  that  Annawon  could  not  shoot  him 
without  killing  his  own  son. 

But  Annawon  came  back  with  a  bundle  in  his  arms. 
He  fell  on  his  knees  before  Church. 


CAPTAIN  CHURCH  IN  PHILIP’S  WAR. 


7  9 


/ 


“  Great  captain/'  he  said,  "  you  have  killed  Philip  and 
conquered  his  country.  I  and  my  company  are  the  last. 
This  war  is  ended  by  you,  and  therefore  these  things  are 
yours.” 

He  opened  the  bun¬ 
dle,  which  contained 
Philip’s  belts  of  wam¬ 
pum  and  the  red 
blanket  in  which 
Philip  dressed  on  great 
occasions. 

This  ended  King 
Philio’s  War 

X  O  VV  dl.  ANNAWON  OPEN8  PHILIP’S  BUNDLE. 


Tell  in  your  own  words  about — 

Captain  Church’s  visit  to  Awashonks. 

The  war  dance. 

How  Church  got  his  Indian  prisoners  to  help  him. 
How  Philip  was  killed. 

How  Annawon  was  made  prisoner. 


XIV. 

Bacon  and  his  Men. 

In  1676,  just  a  hundred  years  before  the  American  Revo¬ 
lution,  the  people  of  Virginia  were  very  much  oppressed  by 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  the  governor  appointed  by  the  King  of 
England.  Their  property  was  taken  away  by  unjust  taxes, 
and  in  other  ways.  The  governor  had  managed  to  get  all 
the  power  into  his  own  hands  and  those  of  his  friends. 


8o 


BACON  AND  HIS  MEN. 


This  was  the  time  of  King  Philip’s  War  in  New  Eng¬ 
land.  The  news  of  this  war  made  the  Indians  of  Virginia 
uneasy,  and  at  length  the  Susquehannas  and  other  tribes 
attacked  the  frontiers.  Governor  Berkeley  would  not  do 
anything  to  protect  the  people  on  the  frontier,  because  he 
was  making  a  great  deal  of  money  out  of  the  trade  with 
friendly  Indians,  and  if  troops  were  sent  against  them  this 
trade  would  be  stopped. 

When  many  hundreds  of  people  on  the  frontier  had 
been  put  to  death,  some  three  hundred  men  formed  them¬ 
selves  into  a  company  to  punish  the  Indians.  But  Berkeley 
refused  to  allow  any  one  to  take  command  of  this  troop,  or 
to  let  them  go  against  the  savages. 

There  was  a  brilliant  young  gentleman  named  Nathaniel 
Bacon,  who  had  come  from  England  three  years  before. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  governor’s  Council,  and  an  edu¬ 
cated  man  of  wealth.  He  begged  the  governor  to  let  him 
lead  this  company  of  three  hundred  men  against  the  In¬ 
dians;  but  the  cruel  and  stubborn  old  governor  said,  No. 

Bacon  was  sorry  for  the  suffering  people.  He  went 
to  the  camp  of  these  men,  to  see  and  encourage  them. 
But  when  they  saw  him  they  set  up  the  cry,  “A  Bacon! 
A  Bacon!  A  Bacon!”  This  was  the  way  of  cheering  a 
man  at  that  day  and  choosing  him  for  a  leader. 

Bacon  knew  that  the  governor  might  put  him  to  death 
if  he  disobeyed  orders,  but  he  could  not  refuse  these  poor 
men  who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes.  So  off  he 
went  at  their  head  to  the  Indian  towns,  where  he  killed 
many  of  the  savages. 


BACON  AND  HIS  MEN. 


8 1 


The  old  governor  gathered  his  friends  and  started  after 
Bacon,  declaring  that  he  would  hang  him  for  going  to 
war  without  orders;  but  while  he  was  looking  for  him, 
the  people  down  by  the  coast  rose  in  favor  of  Bacon. 
The  governor  had  to  make  peace  with  them  by  promis¬ 
ing  to  let  them  choose  a  new  Legislature. 

When  Bacon  got  back  from  the  Indian  country  the 
frontier  people  nearly  worshiped  him  as  their  deliverer. 

1  They  kept  guard  night  and  day  over  his  house.  They 
were  afraid  the  angry  governor  would 
send  men  to  kill  him. 

The  people  of  his  county  elect¬ 
ed  Bacon  a  member  of  the  new 
Legislature.  But  they  were  afraid 
the  governor  might  harm  him. 

Forty  of  them  with  guns  went 
down  to  Jamestown  with  him  in  a 
sloop.  With  the  help  of  two  boats 
and  a  ship  the  governor  captured 
Bacon’s  sloop,  and  brought  Bacon 
into  Jamestown.  But  as  the  an¬ 
gry  people  were  already  rising  to 
defend  their  leader,  Berkeley  was  afraid  to  hurt  him.  He 
made  him  apologize,  and  restored  him  to  his  place  in 
the  Council. 

But  that  night  Bacon  was  warned  that  the  next  day 
he  would  be  seized  again,  and  that  the  roads  and  river 
were  guarded  to  keep  him  from  getting  away.  So  he 
took  horse  suddenly  and  galloped  out  of  Jamestown  in 


GUARDING  BACON’S  HOUSE. 


82 


BACON  AND  HIS  MEN. 


the  darkness.  The  next  morning  the  governor  sent  men 
to  search  the  house  where  he  had  stayed.  They  stuck 

their  swords  through  the  beds,  think¬ 
ing  him  hidden  there. 

But  Bacon  was  already  among 
friends.  When  the  country 
people  heard  that  he  was  in 
danger,  they  seized  their  guns 
and  vowed  to  kill  the  gov¬ 
ernor  and  all  his  party.  Ba¬ 
con  was  quickly  marching  on 
Jamestown  with  five  hundred 
angry  men  at  his  back.  The 
people  refused  to  help  the  gov¬ 
ernor,  and  Bacon  and  his  men 
entered  Jamestown.  It  was  their 
turn  to  guard  the  roads  and  keep  Berkeley  in. 

The  old  governor  offered  to  fight  the  young  captain 
single-handed,  but  Bacon  told  him  he  would  not  harm 
him.  Bacon  forced  the  governor  to  sign  a  commission 
appointing  him  a  general.  He  also  made  the  Legislature 
pass  good  laws  for  the  relief  of  the  people.  These  laws 
were  remembered  long  after  Nathaniel  Bacon's  death,  and 
were  known  as  “  Bacon’s  Laws.” 

While  this  work  of  doing  away  with  bad  laws  and 
making  good  ones  was  going  on,  che  Indians  crept  down 
to  a  place  only  about  twenty  miles  from  Jamestown  and 
murdered  the  people.  General  Bacon  promptly  started  for 
the  Indian  country  with  his  little  army.  But,  just  as  he 


BACON  AND  HIS  MEN. 


83 


was  leaving  the  settlements,  he  heard  that  the  governor 
was  raising  troops  to  take  him  when  he  should  get  back;  so 
he  turned  about  and  marched  swiftly  back  to  Jamestown. 

The  governor  had  called  out  the  militia,  but  when  they 
learned  that  instead  of  taking  them  to  fight  the  Indians 
they  were  to  go  against  Bacon,  they  all  began  to  murmur 
“Bacon!  Bacon!  Bacon !”  Then  they  left  the  field  and 
went  home,  and  the  old  governor  fainted  with  disappoint¬ 
ment.  He  was  forced  to  flee  for  safetv  to  the  eastern  shore 
of  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  the  government  fell  into  the  hands 
of  General  Bacon. 

Bacon  had  an  enemy  on  each  side  of  him.  No  sooner 
had  Berkeley  gone  than  the  Indians  again  began  their  mur¬ 
ders.  Bacon  once  more  marched  against  them,  and  killed 
many.  He  and  his  men  lived  on  horseflesh  and  chinquapin 
nuts  during  this  expedition. 

When  Bacon  got  back  to  the  settlements  and  had  dis¬ 
missed  all  but  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  of  his  men,  he 
heard  that  Governor  Berkeley  had  gathered  together  sev¬ 
enteen  little  vessels  and  six  hundred  sailors  and  others,  and 
with  these  had  taken  possession  of  Jamestown.  Worn  out 
as  they  were  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  Bacon  persuaded  his 
little  band  to  march  straight  for  Jamestown,  so  as  to  take 
Berkeley  by  surprise. 

As  the  weary  and  dusty  heroes  of  the  Indian  war  hur¬ 
ried  onward  to  Jamestown,  the  people  cheered  the  gallant 
little  company.  The  women  called  after  Bacon,  “  Gen¬ 
eral,  if  you  need  help,  send  for  us!  ”  So  fast  did  these  men 
march  that  they  reached  the  narrow  neck  of  sand  that  con- 


84 


BACON  AND  HIS  MEN. 


nected  Jamestown  with  the  mainland  before  the  governor 
had  heard  of  their  coming.  Bacon’s  men  dug  trenches  in 
the  night,  and  shut  in  the  governor  and  his  people. 

After  a  while  Bacon  got  some  cannon.  He  wanted  to 
put  them  upon  his  breastworks  without  losing  the  life  of 
any  of  his  brave  soldiers.  So  he  sent  to  the  plantations 
near  by  and  brought  to  his  camp  the  wives  of  the  chief 
men  in  the  governor’s  party.  These  ladies  he  made  to 
sit  down  in  front  of  his  works  until  his  cannon  were  in 
place.  He  knew  that  the  enemy  would  not  fire  on  them. 

When  he  had  finished, 
he  politely  sent  them 
home. 

Great  numbers  of 
the  people  now  flocked 
to  General  Bacon’s 
standard,  and  the  gov¬ 
ernor  and  his  follow¬ 
ers  left  Jamestown  in 
their  vessels.  Know¬ 
ing  that  they  would  try  ( 
to  return,  Bacon  or¬ 
dered  the  town  to  be 
burned  to  the  ground. 

Almost  all  of  the  people  except  those  on  the  eastern 
shore  sided  with  Bacon,  who  now  did  his  best  to  put  the 
government  in  order.  But  the  hardships  he  had  been 
through  were  too  much  for  him.  He  sickened  and  died. 
His  friends  knew  that  Berkeley  would  soon  get  control 


BACON’S  DEFENSE8. 


BACON  AND  HIS  MEN. 


85 


again,  now  that  their  leader  was  dead.  They  knew  that 
his  enemies  would  dig  up  Bacon’s  body  and  hang  it,  after 
the  fashion  of  that  time.  Therefore  they  buried  it  nobody 
knows  where ;  but  as  they  put  stones  into  his  coffin,  they 
must  have  sunk  it  in  the  river. 

Governor  Berkeley  got  back  his  power,  and  hanged 
many  of  Bacon’s  friends.  But  the  King  of  England  re¬ 
moved  Berkeley  in  disgrace,  and  he  died  of  a  broken 
heart.  The  governors  who  came  after  were  generally  care¬ 
ful  not  to  oppress  the  people  too  far.  They  were  afraid 
another  Bacon  might  rise  up  against  them. 

Gov'-ern-or’s  Coun'-eil,  in  some  of  the  colonies  a  company  of 
men  appointed  by  the  king  or  the  governor,  and  having  nearly  the  same 
powers  as  the  State  senates  have  nowadays.  Legislature  [lej'-is-la'- 
ture],  the  body  or  bodies  of  men  chosen  to  make  the  laws.  Sloop, 
a  vessel  with  one  mast.  Sin'-gle-hand'-ed,  without  help  from  others. 
Com-mis'-sion,  a  paper  certifying  one’s  appointment  to  an  office. 
Chinquapin  [ching'-ka-pin],  a  nut  something  like  an  acorn,  which  grows 
on  a  small  tree  in  Virginia  and  elsewhere.  Fatigue  [fa-teeg'],  weari¬ 
ness.  Main' -land,  the  principal  land,  not  an  island.  (Above  the 
mainland  is  distinguished  from  Jamestown,  which  was  not  quite  an  island 
then.)  Plan-ta'-tion,  a  Southern  farm.  Stand '-ard,  the  flag  of  an 
army  or  of  a  commander. 

Geographical  Note. — See  the  map  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  on  page 
29,  to  illustrate  Berkeley’s  flight  to  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Chesapeake. 

Tell  in  your  own  words — 

How  were  the  people  of  Virginia  oppressed  ? 

How  did  Bacon  come  to  go  to  the  Indian  wars? 

How  was  Bacon  arrested,  and  how  did  he  escape  ? 

How  did  he  drive  Governor  Berkeley  out  of  Jamestown? 

What  happened  after  Bacon’s  death  ? 


86 


BOYHOOD  OF  FRANKLIN. 


XV. 


Boyhood  of  Franklin. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  the  fif¬ 
teenth  in  a  family  of  seventeen 
children,  was  born  in  Boston  in 
1706.  Benjamin  learned  to  read 
when  he  was  very  young,  but  he 
was  sent  to  school  for  only  two 
years.  When  he  was  ten  years 
old  he  had  to  help  his  father. 
Franklin’s  father  made  his  living 
by  boiling  soap  and  making 
tallow  candles.  Little  Benjamin 
had  to  cut  wicks  for  the  can¬ 
dles,  fill  the  molds  with  the  melt¬ 
ed  tallow,  tend  the  shop,  and  run  on  errands.  He  did 
not  like  the  soap  and  candle  trade.  Playing  about  the 
water,  he  had  learned  to  swim,  and  to  manage  a  boat,  when 
he  was  very  young.  Like  many  other  boys,  he  got  the 
notion  that  it  would  be  a  fine  thing  to  go  to  sea  and  be 
a  sailor.  But  his  father  did  not  think  so. 

Franklin  and  his  playmates  used  to  fish  for  minnows 
in  a  mill  pond  which  had  a  salt  marsh  for  a  shore,  so  that 
the  boys  had  to  stand  in  the  mud.  He  was  a  leader  among 
the  boys,  and  already  very  ingenious.  So  he  proposed  that 
the  boys  should  build  a  little  wharf  in  this  marsh  to  stand 
on.  Near  the  marsh  there  was  a  pile  of  stones,  put  there 
to  be  used  in  building  a  new  house.  In  the  evening, 


FRANKLIN  BEGINS 

HIS  EDUCATION. 


BOYHOOD  OF  FRANKLIN. 


8  7 


when  the  workmen  were  gone,  Franklin  and  the  other 
boys  tugged  and  toiled  until  they  had  managed  to  carry 
all  these  stones  away  and  build  them  into  a  wharf,  or 
pier,  reaching  out  into  the  water. 

In  the  morning  the  workmen  were  very  much  surprised 
to  find  that  their  pile  of  stones  had  walked  away  during 
the  night.  They  soon  found  out  where  the  stones  were, 
and  complained  to  the  parents  of  the  boys.  Franklin  and 
some  of  the  other  boys  were  punished  for  their  mischief. 
Benjamin  tried  to  make  his  father  see  that  it  was  a 
very  useful  work  to  build  such  a  pier,  but  the  father 
soon  showed  him  that  “  nothing  was  useful  that  was  not 
honest/’ 

When  Franklin  had  worked  for  two  years  with  his  fa¬ 
ther  at  the  trade  of  making  tallow  candles,  the  father  began 
to  be  afraid  that  Ben  would  run  away  and  go  to  sea,  as 
another  of  his  sons  had  done  before.  So  Franklin’s  father 
took  him  to  walk  with  him  sometimes,  showing  him  men 
working  at  their  trades,  such  as  bricklaying,  turning,  and 
joining,  hoping  that  the  boy  would  take  a  fancy  to  one  of 
these  occupations.  Meantime,  Benjamin  became  very  fond 
of  reading.  He  read  his  father’s  books,  which  were  very 
dull  for  children,  and  he  sold  some  little  things  of  his 
own  to  buy  more.  As  the  boy  was  so  fond  of  books, 
Benjamin’s  father  could  think  of  nothing  better  than  to 


88 


BOYHOOD  OF  FRANKLIN. 


make  him  a  printer.  So  Benjamin  was  apprenticed  to  his 
older  brother,  James  Franklin,  who  already  had  a  print¬ 
ing  office.  Benjamin  liked  this  trade,  and  learned  very 
fast.  As  he  was  often  sent  to  bookstores,  he  got  a 
chance  to  borrow  books.  He  sometimes  sat  up  all  night 
to  read  one  of  these,  taking  great  care  to  keep  the  books 
clean  and  to  return  them  soon. 

Benjamin  took  a  fancy  to  write  poetry  about  this  time. 
His  brother  printed  this  “  wretched  stuff,”  as  Franklin  after¬ 
wards  called  it,  and  sent  the  boy  around  the  town  to  ped¬ 
dle  it.  Ben  was  very  proud  of  his  poetry  until  his  father 
made  fun  of  it,  and  told  him  that  “  verse-makers  were 
generally  beggars.  ” 

Franklin  had  a  notion  as  a  boy  that  it  was  wrong  to 
eat  meat,  so  he  told  his  brother  that  if  he  would  give 
him  half  of  what  his  board  cost,  he  would  board  himself. 
After  this,  Benjamin  made  his  dinner  on  biscuit  or  a  tart 
from  the  baker’s.  In  this  way  he  saved  some  of  his  board 
money  to  buy  books,  and  used  the  time  while  the  other 
printers  were  at  dinner  to  study. 

James  Franklin,  Benjamin’s  brother,  printed  a  little 
newspaper.  Franklin  was  printer’s  boy  and  paper  carrier, 
for  after  he  had  worked  at  printing  the  papers,  he  car¬ 
ried  them  around  to  the  houses  of  the  subscribers.  But 
he  also  wanted  to  write  for  the  paper.  He  did  not  dare 
propose  so  bold  a  thing  to  his  brother,  so  he  wrote  some 
articles  and  put  them  under  the  printing-office  door  at 
night.  They  were  printed,  and  even  Benjamin’s  brother 
did  not  suspect  that  they  were  written  by  the  boy. 


BOYHOOD  OF  FRANKLIN. 


89 


The  two  brothers  did  not  get  on  well  together.  The 
younger  brother  was  rather  saucy,  and  the  older  brothel, 
who  was  high-tempered,  sometimes  gave  him  a  whipping. 

James  Franklin  once  printed  something  in  his  news¬ 
paper  which  offended  the  government  of  the  colony.  He 

» 

was  arrested  and  put  into  prison  for  a  month;  for  the 
press  was  not  free  in  that  day.  Benjamin  published  the 
paper  while  his  brother  was  in  prison,  and  put  in  the 
sharpest  things  he  dared  to  say  about  the  government. 
After  James  got  out  of  prison  he  was  forbidden  to  print 
a  newspaper  any  longer.  So  he  made  up  his  mind  to  print 
it  in  the  name  of  his  brother  Benjamin.  In  order  to  do 
this  he  was  obliged  to  release  Benjamin  Franklin  from  his 
apprenticeship,  though  it  was  agreed  that  Ben  was  to  re¬ 
main  at  work  for  his  brother,  as  though  still  an  apprentice, 
till  he  was  twenty-one  years  old.  But  Benjamin  soon  got 
into  another  quarrel  with  his  brother  James,  and,  now 
that  he  was  no  longer  bound,  he  left  him.  This  was  not 
fair  on  his  part,  and  he  was  afterwards  sorry  for  it. 

Wharf  [hworf],  a  place  for  boats  to  land  ;  in  the  text,  a  bank  of 
stones  reaching  out  into  the  water  like  a  wharf.  Mill  pond,  the  water 
gathered  by  a  milldam.  Salt  marsh,  grass  land  over  which  the  sea¬ 
water  flows  when  the  tide  is  high.  Apprenticed  [ap-pren'-tist],  bound 
for  a  number  of  years  to  learn  a  trade. 

Tell — How  Franklin  and  his  friends  built  a  wharf. 

About  Franklin’s  father,  and  how  Franklin  came  to  learn  the 
printing  business. 

How  Franklin  managed  to  get  books,  and  time  to  read  them. 

Of  Franklin’s  first  writings. 

Of  Franklin’s  brother,  and  his  imprisonment. 

Of  Franklin’s  quarrels  with  his  brother. 


9° 


FRANKLIN,  THE  PRINTER. 


XVI. 

Franklin,  the  Printer. 

When  Ben  Franklin  left  his  brother  he  tried  in  vain  to 
get  a  place  in  one  of  the  other  printing  offices  in  Boston. 
But  James  Franklin  had  sent  word  to  the  other  printers 
not  to  take  Benjamin  into  their  employ.  There  was  no 
other  town  nearer  than  New  York  large  enough  to  sup¬ 
port  a  printing  office.  Franklin,  who  was  now  but  seven¬ 
teen  years  old,  sold  some  of  his  books,  and  secretly  got 
aboard  a  sloop  ready  to  sail  to  New  York.  In  New  York 
he  could  find  no  work,  but  was  recommended  to  try  in 
Philadelphia. 

The  modes  of  travel  in  that  time  were  very  rough.  The 
easiest  way  of  getting  from  Boston  to  New  York  was  by 
sailing  vessels.  To  get  to  Philadelphia,  Franklin  had  first 
to  take  a  sailboat  to  Amboy,  in  New  Jersey.  On  the 
way  a  squall  of  wind  tore  the  sails  and  drove  the  boat  to 
anchor  near  the  Long  Island  shore,  where  our  runaway 
boy  lay  all  night  in  the  little  hold  of  the  boat,  with  the 
waves  beating  over  the  deck  and  the  water  leaking  down 
on  him.  When  at  last  he  landed  at  Amboy,  he  had  been 
thirty  hours  without  anything  to  eat  or  any  water  to  drink. 

Having  but  little  money  in  his  pocket,  he  had  to  walk 
from  Amboy  to  Burlington;  and  when,  soaked  with  rain, 
he  stopped  at  an  inn,  he  cut  such  a  figure  that  the  people 
came  near  arresting  him  for  a  runaway  bond  servant,  of 
whom  there  were  many  at  that  time.  He  thought  he 
might  better  have  stayed  at  home. 


FRANKLIN,  THE  PRINTER. 


91 


This  tired  and  mud-bespattered  young  fellow  got  a  chance 
to  go  from  Burlington  to  Philadelphia  in  a  rowboat  by 
taking  his  turn  at  the  oars.  There  were  no  street  lamps  in 
the  town  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  men  in  the  boat  passed 
the  town  without  knowing  it.  Like  forlorn  tramps,  they 
landed  and  made  a  fire  of  some  fence  rails. 

When  they  got  back  to  Philadelphia  in  the  morning, 
Franklin — who  was  to  become  in  time  the  most  famous 


FRANKLIN’S  ENTRY  INTO  PHILADELPHIA. 


man  in  that  town — walked  up  the  street  in  his  working 
clothes,  which  were  badly  soiled  by  his  rough  journey. 
His  spare  stockings  and  shirt  were  stuffed  into  his  pock- 


92 


FRANKLIN,  THE  PRINTER. 


ets.  He  bought  three  large  rolls  at  a  baker’s  shop.  One 
of  these  he  carried  under  each  arm;  the  other  he  munched 
as  he  walked. 

As  he  passed  along  the  street  a  girl  named  Deborah . 
Read  stood  in  the  door  of  her  father’s  house,  and  laughed 
at  the  funny  sight  of  a  young  fellow  with  bulging  pockets 
and  a  roll  under  each  arm.  Years  afterwards  this  same 
Deborah  was  married  to  Franklin. 

Franklin  got  a  place  to  work  with  a  printer  named 
Keimer.  He  was  now  only  a  poor  printer-boy,  in  leather 
breeches  such  as  workingmen  wore  at  that  time.  But, 
though  he  looked  poor,  he  was  already  different  from 
most  of  the  boys  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  lover  of  good 
books.  The  boy  who  has  learned  to  read  the  best  books 
will  be  an  educated  man,  with  or  without  schools.  The 
great  difference  between  people  is  shown  in  the  way  they 
spend  their  leisure  time.  Franklin,  when  not  studying, 
spent  his  evenings  with  a  few  young  men  who  were  also 
fond  of  books.  Here  is  the  sort  of  young  man  that  will 
come  to  something. 

I  suppose  people  began  to  notice  and  talk  about  this 
studious  young  workman.  One  day  Keimer,  the  printer 
for  whom  Franklin  was  at  work,  saw,  coming  toward  his 
office,  Sir  William  Keith,  the  governor  of  the  province  oi 
Pennsylvania,  and  another  gentleman,  both  finely  dressed 
after  the  fashion  of  the  time,  in  powdered  periwigs  and 
silver  knee  buckles,  much  as  you  see  in  the  picture  on  the 
next  page.  Keimer  was  delighted  to  have  such  visitors, 
and  he  ran  down  to  meet  the  great  men.  But  imagine  his 


FRANKLIN,  THE  PRINTER. 


93 


disappointment  when  the  governor  asked  to  see  Franklin, 
and  led  away  the  young  printer  in  leather  breeches  to 
talk  with  him  in  the  tavern. 

The  governor  wanted  Franklin  to  set  up  a  printing  office 
of  his  own,  because  both  Keimer  and  the  other  master 
printer  in  Philadelphia  were  poor  workmen. 

But  Franklin  had  no  money,  and  it  took  a 
great  deal  to  buy  a  printing  press  and  types 
in  that  day.  Franklin  told 
the  governor  that  he  did 
not  believe  his  father  would 
help  him  to  buy  an  outfit. 

But  the  governor  wrote  a 

letter  himself  to  Frank- 

/ 

lin’s  father,  asking  him  to 
start  Benjamin  in  business. 

So  Franklin  went  back 
to  Boston  in  a  better  plight 
than  that  in  which  he 
had  left.  He  had  on  a 
brand  new  suit  of  clothes, 

he  carried  a  watch,  and  he  had  some  silver  in  his  pock¬ 
ets.  His  father  and  mother  were  glad  to  see  him  once 
more,  but  his  father  told  him  he  was  too  young  to  start 
in  business  for  himself. 

Franklin  returned  to  Philadelphia.  Governor  Keith, 
who  was  one  of  those  fine  gentlemen  that  make  many  prom¬ 
ising  speeches,  now  offered  to  start  Franklfn  himself.  He 
wanted  him  to  go  to  London  to  buy  the  printing  press. 


FRANKLIN  AND  THE  GOVERNOR. 


94 


FRANKLIN,  THE  PRINTER. 


He  promised  to  give  the  young  man  letters  to  people  in 
London,  and  one  that  would  get  him  the  money  to  buy 
the  press. 

But,  somehow,  every  time  that  Franklin  called  on  the 
governor  for  the  letters  he  was  told  to  call  again.  At  last 
Franklin  went  on  shipboard,  thinking  the  governor  had 
sent  the  letters  in  the  ship’s  letter  bag.  Before  the  ship 
got  to  England  the  bag  was  opened,  and  no  letters  for 
Franklin  were  found.  A  gentleman  now  told  Franklin  that 
Keith  made  a  great  many  such  promises,  but  he  never  kept 
them.  Fine  clothes  do  not  make  a  fine  gentleman. 

So  Franklin  was  left  in  London  without  money  or 
friends.  But  he  got  work  as  a  printer,  and  learned  some 
things  about  the  business  that  he  could  not  learn  in  America. 
The  English  printers  drank  a  great  deal  of  beer.  They 
laughed  at  Franklin  because  he  did  not  drink  beer,  and  they 
called  him  the  “  Water  American.”  But  he  wasn’t  a  fellow 
to  be  afraid  of  ridicule.  They  told  him  that  water  would 
make  him  weak,  but  they  were  surprised  to  find  him  able 
to  lift  more  than  any  of  them.  He  was  also  the  strongest 
and  most  expert  swimmer  of  all.  In  London  he  kept  up  his 
reading.  He  paid  a  man  who  kept  a  secondhand  book¬ 
store  for  permission  to  read  his  books. 

Franklin  came  back  to  Philadelphia  as  clerk  for  a  mer¬ 
chant ;  but  the  merchant  soon  died,  and  Franklin  went  to 
work  again  for  his  old  master,  Keimer.  He  was  very  use¬ 
ful,  for  he  could  make  ink  and  cast  type  when  they  were 
needed,  and  he  also  engraved  some  designs  on  type  metal. 
Keimer  once  fell  out  with  Franklin,  and  discharged  him; 


FRANKLIN,  THE  PRINTER. 


95 


but  he  begged  him  to  come  back  when  there  was  some 
paper  money  to  be  printed,  which  Keimer  could  not  print 
without  Franklin’s  help  in  making  the  engravings. 

Squall,  a  sudden  and  violent  gust  of  wind.  Bond  serv'-ant, 
a  person  sold  into  a  kind  of  slavery  for  four  years  or  more,  to  pay  his 
passage  from  Europe,  according  to  a  practice  very  common  in  the  last 
century.  Bulg'-ing,  swelling  out.  Per'-i-wig,  a  wig,  a  cap  of  false 
hair,  much  worn  by  fashionable  gentlemen  in  former  times,  and  usually 
sprinkled  with  a  white  powder.  Knee  bue'-kles,  buckles  used  to 
fasten  the  short  breeches,  worn  in  old  times  just  below  the  knees,  and  to 
hold  up  the  long  stockings.  Out' -fit,  articles  of  every  sort  necessary  to 
begin  any  business,  journey,  or  expedition  with.  Plight,  condition. 
Print'-ing  press,  a  machine  by  which  paper  is  pressed  against  type 
covered  with  ink;  any  machine  for  printing.  Type  met'-al,  a  mixed 
metal  used  to  make  types  for  printing. 

Tell — About  Franklin’s  journey  from  Boston  to  Philadelphia. 

About  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia, 

His  life  in  Philadelphia. 

His  journey  to  England. 

His  return  to  Philadelphia. 

XVII. 

The  Great  Doctor  Franklin. 

AFTER  a  time  Franklin  started 
a  printing  office  of  his  own.  He  was 
very  much  in  debt  for  his  printing 
press  and  types.  To  pay  for  them 
he  worked  very  hard.  Men  saw  him 

PRINTING  PRE88  OF  FRANKLIN’S  TIME. 

at  work  when  they  got  up  in  the 

morning,  and  when  they  went  to  bed  at  night  the  candle 
in  his  office  was  still  shining.  When  he  wanted  paper  he 


9<5 


THE  GREAT  DOCTOR  FRANKLIN. 


would  sometimes  take  the  wheelbarrow  himself  and  bring 
it  from  the  store  at  which  he  bought  it  to  his  printing 
office. 

People  began  to  say:  “  What  an  honest,  hard-working 
young  man  that  Franklin  is!  He  is  sure  to  get  on!  ”  And 
then,  to  help  him  get  on,  they  brought  their  work  to  his 
office. 

He  started  a  newspaper.  Now  his  reading  of  good 
books  and  his  practice  in  writing  since  he  was  a  little  boy 
helped  him.  He  could  write  intelligently  on  almost  any 
subject,  and  his  paper  was  the  best  one  printed  in  all 
America  at  that  time. 

Franklin  married  Miss  Deborah  Read,  the  same  who 
had  laughed  when  she  saw  him  walking  the  street  with  a 
roll  under  each  arm  and  his  spare  clothes  in  his  pockets. 
His  wife  helped  him  to  attend  the  shop,  for  he  sold  station¬ 
ery  in  connection  with  his  printing.  They  kept  no  servant, 
and  Franklin  ate  his  breakfast  of  plain  bread  and  milk  out 
of  an  earthen  porringer  with  a  pewter  spoon.  In  time  he 
paid  off  all  his  debts  and  began  to  grow  rich. 

In  those  days  books  were  scarce  and  people  had  but  few 
of  them.  But  everybody  bought  an  almanac.  Franklin 
published  one  of  these  useful  little  pamphlets  every  year. 
It  was  known  as  “  Poor  Richard’s  Almanac,”  because  it 
pretended  to  be  written  by  a  poor  man  named  Richard 
Saunders,  though  everybody  knew  that  Richard  was  Frank¬ 
lin  himself.  This  almanac  was  very  popular  on  account  of 
the  wise  and  witty  sayings  of  Poor  Richard  about  saving 
time  and  money. 


THE  GREAT  DOCTOR  FRANKLIN. 


97 


Franklin  did  not  spend  all  his  time  making  money.  He 
studied  hard  as  usual,  and  succeeded  in  learning  several 
languages  without  the  help  of  a  teacher.  This  knowledge 
was  afterwards  of  the  greatest  use  to  him. 

Like  other  people  in  America  at  that  time,  he  found  it 
hard  to  get  the  books  he  wanted.  To  help  himself  and  to 
do  good  to  others,  he  started  a  public  library  in  Philadel¬ 
phia,  which  was  the  first  ever  started  in  America.  Many 
like  it  were  established  in  other  towns,  and  the  people  in 
America  soon  had  books  within  their  reach.  It  was  ob¬ 
served,  after  a  while,  that  plain  people  in  America  knew  more 
than  people  in  the  same  circumstances  in  other  countries. 

P'ranklin  did  many  other  things  for  the  public.  Seeing 
how  wasteful  the  old  fireplaces  were,  since  they  burned  a 
great  deal  of  wood  and  made  the  rooms  cold 
and  full  of  draughts,  and  often  filled  the 
house  with  smoke,  he  invented  a  system  of 
saving  heat  by  means  of  a  small  iron  fire¬ 
place  or  open  stove.  He  founded  a  high 
school,  which  afterwards  became  a  great 
university.  When  the  frontier  people  were 

FRANKLIN’S  FIREPLACE. 

slain  by  Indians  during  the  French  War, 

he  was  the  chief  man  in  raising  and  arming  troops  for 

their  relief. 

These  and  other  acts  of  the  sort  made  Franklin  well 
known  in  Pennsylvania.  But  he  presently  did  one  thing 
which  made  him  famous  all  the  world  over.  This  one 
thing  was  accomplished  in  a  very  short  time;  but  it  came 
from  the  habits  of  study  he  formed  when  he  was  a  little 


98 


THE  GREAT  DOCTOR  FRANKLIN. 


boy.  He  was  always  reading,  to 
get  more  knowledge,  and  making 
sjlgf'  experiments,  to  find  out  things.  Peo¬ 
ple  did  not  know  a  great  deal  about 
electricity  at  that  time.  In  Europe  many  learned 
men  weVe  trying  to  find  out  what  they  could  about 
various''  sorts  of  electricity,  and  lectures  on  the  subject 
had  been  given  ih  Philadelphia.  Something  made  Franklin 
think  that  the  electricity  which  was  produced  by  a  ma¬ 
chine  was  of  the  \same  nature  as  the  lightning  in  the 
sky.  So  he  devisech  a  plan  to  find  out.  He  set  a  trap 
to  catch  the  lightnin<A  He  made  a  kite  by  stretching  a 
silk  handkerchief  on  a  frame.  Then  he  fastened  a  metal 
point  to  the  kite  and  tied  a  hemp  string  to  it  to  fly  it 
with.  He  thought  that  lightning  were  electricity,  it 
would  go  from  the  metal  point  down  the  hemp  string.  At 
the  lower  end  of  the  string  Te  tied  a  key,  and  a  silk 
string  to  catch  hold  of,  so  that  he  should  not  let  the 
electricity  escape  through  his  hand. 

Franklin  knew  that  if  a  grown  mark  were  seen 

\  •// 

flying  a  kite  he  would  soon  be  surrounded  by 
a  crowd.  So  one  stormy  night  he  went  mit 
and  sent  up  his  kite.  He  waited  under  a 
shed  to  see  if  the  electricity  would  come. 

When  he  saw  the  little  fibers  of  the  hemp 
stand  up  charged  with  electricity,  he  held 
his  hand  near  the  key  and  felt  a  shock. 

Then  he  went  home,  the  only  man  in 
the  world  that  knew  certainly  that  light- 


THE  GREAT  DOCTOR  FRANKLIN. 


99 


nin g  was  electricity.  When  he  had  found  out  this  secret 
he  invented  the  lightning  rod,  which  takes  electricity  from 
the  air  to  the  earth  and  keeps  it  from  doing  harm. 

When  the  learned  men  of  Europe  heard  that  a  man 
who  had  hardly  ever  been  at  school  had  made  a  great  dis¬ 
covery,  they  were  struck  with  wonder,  and  Franklin  was 
soon  considered  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  world,  and 
was  called  Dr.  Franklin. 

When  the  troubles  between  England  and  her  colonies 
began,  there  was  no  one  so  suitable  to  make  peace  as 
the  famous  Dr.  Franklin.  Franklin  went  to  England  and 
tried  hard  to  settle  matters.  But  he  would  not  consent  to 
any  plan  by  which  Americans  should  give  up  their  rights. 

When  the  war  broke  out  Dr.  Franklin  came  home 
again.  He  was  made  a  member  of  Congress,  and  he 
helped  to  make  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  After 
the  Americans  had  declared  themselves  independent  they 
found  it  a  hard  task  to  fight  against  so  powerful  a  coun¬ 
try  as  England.  They  wanted  to  get  some  other  country 
to  help  them.  So  Franklin,  who  was  well  known  in  Eu¬ 
rope,  and  who  had  studied  French  when  he  was  a  poor 
printer,  was  sent  to  France. 

When  Franklin  went  to  France  he  had  to  appear  at  the 
finest  court  in  the  world.  But  in  the  midst  of  all  the  dis¬ 
play  and  luxury  of  the  French  court  he  wore  plain  clothes, 
and  did  not  pretend  to  be  anything  more  than  he  was  in 
Philadelphia.  This  pleased  the  French,  who  admired  his 
independent  spirit  and  called  him  “  the  philosopher.”  He 
persuaded  the  French  Government  to  give  money  and 


100 


THE  GREAT  DOCTOR  FRANKLIN. 


arms  to  the  Americans.  He  fitted  out  vessels  to  attack 
English  ships,  and  during  the  whole  War  of  the  Revolution 
he  did  much  for  his  country. 

When  the  war  was  ended  there  came  the  hard  task  of 
making  peace.  In  this  Franklin  took  a  leading  part. 

When  peace  had  been  made,  Dr.  Franklin  set  out  to 
leave  Paris.  As  he  was  old  and  feeble,  the  queen’s  litter, 

—  -  ■  f 


FRANKLIN  ON  THE  QUEEN'S  UTTER. 


which  was  carried  by  mules,  was  furnished  to  him.  On 
this  litter  he  traveled  till  he  reached  the  sea.  After  he 
got  home  he  was  the  most  honored  man  in  America  next 
to  Washington.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Convention 
of  1787,  which  formed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  He  died  in  1790,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

When  Franklin  was  a  boy  his  father  used  to  repeat  to 
him  Solomon’s  proverb,  “  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his 
business?  he  shall  stand  before  kings.”  This  was  always 


THE  GREAT  DOCTOR  FRANKLIN. 


IOI 


an  encouragement  to  him,  though  he  did  not  expect  really 
to  stand  before  kings.  But  he  was  presented  to  five  dif¬ 
ferent  kings  in  his  lifetime. 

Por'-rin-ger,  a  kind  of  bowl,  out  of  which  porridge  is  eaten. 
Draughts  [pronounced  drafts\  Frontier  [fron'-teer],  the  outer  edge 
of  white  men’s  settlements  next  the  Indian  country.  “  Frontier  people,”  in 
the  text,  are  the  people  living  nearest  to  the  wilderness  occupied  by  Indians 
[The  word  frontier  sometimes  refers  to  the  region  lying  near  the  line  be 
tween  two  countries.]  Fi'-bers,  fine,  thread-like  bits,  such  as  you  will 
find  if  you  pick  a  piece  of  twine  to  pieces,  and  which  may  be  seen  sticking 
out  from  a  piece  of  rough  string.  Shock,  the  feeling  that  one  has  on  re¬ 
ceiving  electricity  into  the  person  from  a  body  charged  with  it.  Court 
here  means  the  palace  of  a  king ;  also  the  attendants  and  ministers  who 
are  about  his  person  or  carry  on  his  government.  Lux'-u-ry,  rich  food, 
dress,  and  pleasures  of  any  kind.  Phi-los'-o-pher,  one  who  acts  calmly 
and  wisely,  according  to  reason.  Lit'-ter,  a  framework  supporting  a  sort 
of  bed,  on  which  a  person  may  be  carried  by  men  or  horses.  Con-sti- 
tu'-tion,  in  our  country,  a  written  plan  of  government  which  tells  how 
and  by  whom  the  laws  shall  be  made  and  carried  out,  and  what  kind  of 

laws  may  be  made,  and  what  kind  may  not  be  made. 

\ 

Tell  in  your  own  words  about — 

How  Franklin  succeeded  in  his  own  printing  office. 

His  industry. 

His  economy. 

His  newspaper. 

His  almanac. 

Tell  also  of — His  other  employments. 

His  studies. 

The  public  library  that  he  founded. 

The  fireplace  he  invented. 

His  public  services  in  the  French  War. 

Tell  what  you  can  about  his  great  discovery. 

Tell  about — His  services  during  the  Revolution. 

What  he  did  in  England. 

What  he  did  in  France. 

His  return  home  when  he  was  old. 


102 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


XVIII. 


Young  George  Washington. 

George  Washing¬ 
ton  was  born  in  a 
plain,  old-fashioned 
house  in  Westmore¬ 
land  County,  Vir¬ 
ginia,  on  the  twen¬ 
ty-second  day  of 
February,  1732.  He 
was  sent  to  what 
was  called  an  **  old- 
field  school.”  The 
country  school- 
houses  in  Virginia  at 
that  time  were  built 
in  fields  too  much  worn  out  to  grow  anything.  Little 
George  Washington  went  to  a  school  taught  by  a  man 
named  Hobby. 

In  that  day  the  land  in  Virginia  was  left  to  the  oldest 
son,  after  the  custom  in  England,  for  Virginia  was  an  Eng¬ 
lish  colony.  As  George’s  elder  brother  Lawrence  was  to 
have  the  land  and  be  the  great  gentleman  of  the  family, 
he  had  been  sent  to  England  for  his  education.  When  he 
got  back,  with  many  a  strange  story  of  England  to  tell, 
George  became  very  proud  of  him,  and  Lawrence  was 
equally  pleased  with  his  manly  little  brother.  When  Law¬ 
rence  went  away  as  a  captain,  in  the  regiment  raised  in 


WASHINGTON’S  FIRST  COMMAND. 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


103 


America  for  service  in  the  English  army  against  the 
Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies,  George  began  to  think 
much  of  a  soldier’s  life,  and  to  drill  the  boys  in  Hobby’s 
school.  There  were  marches  and  parades  and  bloodless 
battles  fought  among  the  tufts  of  broom  straw  in  the  old 
field,  and  in  these  young  George  was  captain. 

This  play-captain  soon  came  to  be  a  tall  boy.  He 
could  run  swiftly,  and  he 
was  a  powerful  wrestler. 

The  stories  of  the  long 
jumps  he  made  are  almost 
beyond  belief.  It  was  also 
said  that  he  could  throw 
farther  than  anybody  else. 

The  people  of  that  day 
went  everywhere  on  horse¬ 
back,  and  George  was  not 
afraid  to  get  astride  of  the 
wildest  horse  or  an  un¬ 
broken  colt.  These  things 
proved  that  he  was  a 
strongly  built  and  fearless 
boy.  But  a  better  thing 
is  told  of  him.  He  was 
so  just,  that  his  schoolmates  used  to  bring  their  quarrels 
for  him  to  settle. 

When  Washington  was  eleven  years  old  his  father 
died,  but  his  mother  took  pains  to  bring  him  up  with 
manly  ideas.  He  was  now  sent  to  school  to  a  Mr. 


104 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Williams,  from  whom  he  learned  reading,  writing,  and 
arithmetic.  To  these  were  added  a  little  bookkeeping 
and  surveying. 

George  took  great  pains  with  all  he  did.  His  copy¬ 
books  have  been  kept,  and  they  show  that  his  handwrit¬ 
ing  was  very  neat.  He  also  wrote  out  over  one  hundred 
“  rules  for  behavior  in  company.”  You  see  that  he  wished 
to  be  a  gentleman  in  every  way. 

His  brother  Lawrence  wished  George  to  learn  to  be 
a  seaman,  and  George  himself  liked  the  notion  of  going 
to  sea.  But  his  mother  was  unwilling  to  part  with  him. 
So  he  stayed  at  school  until  he  was  sixteen  years  old. 

A  great  deal  of  the  northern  part  of  Virginia  at  this 
time  belonged  to  Lord  Fairfax,  an  eccentric  nobleman, 
whose  estates  included  many  whole  counties.  George 
Washington  must  have  studied  his  books  of  surveying 
very  carefully,  for  he  was  only  a  large  boy  when  he  was 
employed  to  go  over  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains 
and  survey  some  of  the  wild  lands  of  Lord  Fairfax. 

So,  when  he  was  just  sixteen  years  old,  young  Wash¬ 
ington  accepted  the  offer  of  Lord  Fairfax,  and  set  out  for 
the  wilderness.  He  crossed  rough  mountains  and  rode  his 
horse  through  swollen  streams.  The  settlers’  beds  were 
only  masses  of  straw,  with,  perhaps,  a  ragged  blanket. 
But  George  slept  most  of  the  time  out  under  the  sky  by 
a  camp  fire,  with  a  little  hay,  straw,  or  fodder  for  a  bed. 
Sometimes  men  and  women  and  children  slept  around  these 
fires,  “  like  cats  and  dogs,”  as  Washington  wrote,  “  and 
happy  is  he  who  gets  nearest  the  fire.”  Once  the  straw 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


105 


on  which  the  young  surveyor  was  asleep  blazed  up,  and 
he  might  have  been  consumed  if  one  of  the  party  had 
not  waked  him  in  time.  Washington  must  have  been 
a  pretty  good  surveyor,  for  he  re¬ 
ceived  large  pay  for  his  work,  earn¬ 
ing  from  seven  to  twenty-one  dol¬ 
lars  a  day,  at  a  time  when  things 
were  much  cheaper  than  they  are 
now. 

The  food  of  people  in  the  woods 
was  the  flesh  of  wild  turkey  and 
other  game.  Every  man  was  his 
own  cook,  toasting  his  meat  on  a 
forked  stick,  and  eating  it  off  a 
chip  instead  of  a  plate.  Washing¬ 
ton  led  this  rough  life  for  three  years.  It  was  a  good 
school  for  a  soldier.  Here,  too,  he  made  his  first  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  Indians.  He  saw  a  party  of  them  dance  to 
the  music  of  a  drum  made  by  stretching  deerskin  very 
tight  over  the  top  of  a  pot  half  full  of  water. 
They  also  had  a  rattle,  made  by  putting 
shot  into  a  gourd.  They  took  pains  to  tie 
a  piece  of  a  horse’s  tail  to  the  gourd,  so  as 
to  see  the  horsehair  switch  to  and  fro 
when  the  gourd  was  shaken. 

When  Washington  was  but  nineteen  years  old 
the  governor  of  Virginia  made  him  a  major  of 
He  took  lessons  in  military  drill  from  an  old  sol¬ 
dier,  and  practiced  sword  exercises  under  the  instruction 


TOASTING  MEAT  BY  A  CAMP  FIRE. 


militia. 


io6 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


WASHINGTON  AND  VAN  BRAAM. 


of  a  Dutch¬ 
man  named 
Van  Braam 
[brahm].  The 
people  in  Vir¬ 
ginia  and  the 
other  colonies 
were  looking 
forward  to  a 
war  with  the 

il 

French,  who 
in  that  day  had 
colonies  in  Can¬ 
ada  and  Louisiana.  They  claimed  the  country  west  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains.  The  English  colonists  had  spread 
over  most  of  the  country  east  of  the  mountains,  and  they 
were  beginning  to  cross  the  Alleghanies.  But  the  French 
built  forts  on  the  west  side  of  the  mountains,  and  stirred 
up  the  Indians  to  prevent  the  English  settlers  from  coming 
over  into  the  rich  valley  of  the  Ohio  River. 

The  governor  of  Virginia  resolved  to  send  an  officer 
to  warn  the  French  that  they  were  on  English  ground. 
Who  was  so  fit  to  go  on  this  hard  and  dangerous  errand 
as  the  brave  young  Major  Washington,  who  knew  both 
the  woods  and  the  ways  of  the  Indians  ?  So  Washington 
set  out  with  a  few  hardy  frontiersmen.  When  at  length, 
after  crossing  swollen  streams  and  rough  mountains,  he 
got  over  to  the  Ohio  River,  where  all  was  wilderness,  he 
called  the  Indians  together  and  had  a  big  talk  with  them, 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


107 


at  a  place  called  Logtown.  He  got  a  chief  called  “  The 
Half-king,”  and  some  other  Indians,  to  go  with  him  to  the 
French  fort. 

The  French  officers  had  no  notion  of  giving  up  their 
fort  to  the  English.  They  liked  this  brave  and  gentle¬ 
manly  young  Major  Washington,  and  entertained  him  well. 
But  they  tried  to  get  the  Half-king  and  his  Indians  to 
leave  Washington,  and  did  what  they  could  to  keep  him 
from  getting  safe  home  again.  With  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  he  got  his  Indians  away  from  the  French  fort  at 
last,  and  started  back.  Part  of  the  way  they  traveled  in 
canoes,  jumping  out  into  the  icy  water  now  and  then  to 
lift  the  canoes  over  shallow  places. 

When  Washington  came  to  the  place  where  he  was  to 
leave  the  Indians  and  recross  the  mountains,  his  pack 
horses  were  found  to  be  so  weak  that  they  were  unfit  for 
their  work.  So  Major  Washington  gave  up  his  saddle 
horse  to  carry  the  baggage.  Then  he  strapped  a  pack  on 
his  back,  shouldered  his  gun,  and  with  a  man  named  Gist 
set  out  ahead  of  the  rest  of  the  party. 

Washington  and  Gist  had  a  rascally  Indian  for  guide. 
When  Washington  was  tired  this  fellow  wished  to  carry 
his  gun  for  him,  but  the  young  major  thought  the  gun 
safer  in  his  own  hands.  At  length,  as  evening  came  on, 
the  Indian  turned  suddenly,  leveled  his  gun,  and  fired  on 
Washington  and  Gist,  in  the  dark,  but  without  hitting 
either  of  them.  They  seized  him  before  he  could  reload 
his  gun.  Gist  wanted  to  kill  him,  but  Washington  thought 
it  better  to  let  him  go. 


io8 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


Afraid  of  being 
attacked,  they  now 
traveled  night  and 
day  till  they  got  to 
the  Allegheny  Riv¬ 
er.  This  was  full 
of  floating  ice,  and 
they  tried  to  cross 
it  on  a  raft.  Wash¬ 
ington  was  push¬ 
ing  the  raft  with  a 
pole,  when  the  ice 
caught  the  pole  in 
such  a  way  as  to 
fling  him  into  the 
river.  He  caught 
hold  of  the  raft  and 
got  out  again.  He 
and  Gist  spent  the  cold  night  on  an  island  in  the  river, 
and  got  ashore  in  the  morning  by  walking  on  the  ice. 

They  now  stopped  at  the  house  of  an  Indian  trader. 
Near  by  was  a  squaw  chief,  who  was  offended  that  she 
had  not  been  asked  to  the  council  Washington  had  held 
with  the  Indians  at  Logtown.  To  make  friends,  he  paid 
her  a  visit,  and  presented  her  with  a  blanket  such  as  the 
Indians  wear  on  their  shoulders.  Washington  bought  a 
horse  here,  and  soon  got  back  to  the  settlements,  where  the 
story  of  the  adventures  of  the  young  major  was  told  from 
one  plantation  to  another,  producing  much  excitement. 


YOUNG  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 


IO9 


Reg'-i-ment,  a  body  of  soldiers  consisting  of  a  number  of  compa¬ 
nies,  commanded  by  a  colonel.  Ee-een'-trie,  odd;  peculiar  in  life  or 
manners.  Sur-vey',  to  run  the  lines  between  different  pieces  of  land, 
and  find  out  the  quantity  of  land  in  each  tract.  Pack  horses,  horses 
used  for  carrying  baggage.  Raft,  several  logs,  timbers,  or  boards  fas¬ 
tened  so  as  to  float  together  in  the  water.  In'-dian  trad'-er,  a  white 
man  who  sells  goods  to  Indians  and  buys  the  skins  of  animals  from  them. 

Tell — Where  Washington  was  born. 

What  schools  he  attended  and  the  studies  he  pursued. 

Other  facts  about  his  boyhood. 

Of  his  surveying,  and  the  life  in  the  woods. 

About  the  French  on  the  west  of  the  mountains. 

Of  Washington’s  journey  to  the  French  fort. 

His  adventures  during  his  return. 


XIX. 

Washington  in  the  French  War. 

WHEN  Washington  got  back  from  the  western  side  of 
the  mountains,  it  became  evident  to  the  governor  of  Vir¬ 
ginia  that  the  French  must  be  either  driven  away  or  the 
English  people  must  be  shut  in  to  the  country  on  the  east 
of  the  mountains.  The  people  in  the  colonies  did  not  like 
the  notion  of  being  fenced  in  like  a  lot  of  cattle  in  a  pas¬ 
ture.  So  Washington  was  again  sent  to  the  West  in  1754, 
to  take  possession  of  the  country.  On  his  first  trip  he 
had  seen  the  point  where  the  Allegheny  [al-le-ga'-ny]  and 
Monongahela  [mo-non'-ga-hee'-lah]  rivers  meet,  which  he 
thought  would  be  a  good  place  for  a  fort.  A  small  compa¬ 
ny  of  men  were  sent  ahead  to  build  a  fort  at  this  place;  but 
the  French  drove  them  away,  and  planted  a  fort  of  their  own 
on  the  ground.  This  was  called  Fort  Duquesne  [du-kane']. 


no 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  FRENCH  WAR 


THIS  MAP  SHOWS  WASHINGTON'S  HOME  AT  MOUNT 
VERNON;  THE  SCENE  OF  HIS  SURVEYING;  THE 
COUNTRY  THROUGH  WHICH  HE  PASSED  IN  HIS 
JOURNEY  TO  FORT  VENANGO  )  AND  THE  ROUTE 
OF  BRADDOCK’S  ARMY  FROM  WINCHESTER  TO 
THE  PLACE  OF  ITS  DEFEAT. 


Though  the 
French  in  Amer¬ 
ica  were  not  many,  they 
were  nearly  all  soldiers.  So  when 
Washington  with  his  party  had 
got  through  the  wild  mountains 


into  the  western  wilderness  he  found  that  there  were  many 
more  soldiers  on  the  French  side  than  he  had.  Hearing 
that  a  French  party  was  dogging  his  steps,  he  marched 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  FRENCH  WAR. 


Ill 


in  the  night  and  surrounded  them.  After  a  sharp  skirmish 
the  French  fled,  but  were  nearly  all  captured.  This  little 
fight  was  George  Washing¬ 
ton’s  first  battle. 

But  Washington  soon 
found  that  he  must  retreat 
or  be  taken.  He  fell  back 
to  a  place  called  Great 
Meadows,  where  he  built  a 
sort  of  fort  and  called  it 
Fort  Necessity.  Here  the 
Half-king  in  despair  left 
him,  and  the  French  at¬ 
tacked  his  little  force. 

After  the  conflict  had  last¬ 
ed  one  day,  Washington, 
seeinghimself  outnumbered, 
agreed  to  march  out  of  the 
fort  and  return  to  the  set¬ 
tlements,  which  he  did. 

This  expedition  of  Wash¬ 
ington’s  was  the  beginning  of  a  great  war  between  Eng¬ 
land  and  France. 

The  next  year  troops  were  sent  from  England  under 
General  Braddock,  who  set  out  to  drive  the  French  from 
Fort  Duquesne.  Braddock  was  a  brave  man,  but  one  of 
the  sort  who  can  not  learn  anything.  He  laughed  at 
the  lank  and  careless-looking  American  troops,  who  cut  a 
sorry  figure  alongside  of  the  English  with  their  bright  red 


IN  FORT  NECESSITY. 


1 12 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  FRENCH  WAR. 


coats  and  fine  drill.  He  was  sure  that  these  rough  Amer¬ 
icans  were  of  no  use.  Even  American  officers  were  treat¬ 
ed  with  contempt  by  the  British  authorities,  and  were  not 
allowed  to  rank  with  English  officers.  Washington  was 
so  stung  by  this  that  he  resigned  his  place,  but  he  ac¬ 
cepted  a  position  on  Braddock’s  staff. 

Rough  as  the  mountain  roads  were,  Braddock  traveled 
in  a  coach  as  far  as  he  could,  and  tried  to  keep  up  the  dis¬ 
play  common  in  Europe.  He  said  that  the  Indians  would 
not  prove  formidable  when  they  came  to  fight  his  well- 
drilled  English  troops.  Washington  could  not  persuade  the 
general  to  send  scouts  on  either  side  of  his  line.  One  day 


there  came  to 
Braddock  a  com¬ 
pany  of  woods¬ 
men  in  hunting 
shirts.  They 
were  command- 
ed  by  the  fa¬ 
mous  Captain 
Jack,  who  was 
known  as  the 
Black  Hunt¬ 


er”  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania.  Captain 
Jack’s  whole  fam¬ 
ily  had  been  killed 


GENERAL  BRADDOCK  AND  CAPTAIN  JACK. 


by  the  savages  in  his  absence.  He  had  then  taken  to 
the  woods,  and  devoted  himself  to  revenging  the  death 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  FRENCH  WAR.  I  1 3 

of  his  family  and  to  protecting  the  settlers.  He  and  his 
followers  lived  in  the  forest,  and  kept  the  Indians  in  con¬ 
stant  fear  of  them.  This  Captain  Jack,  and  all  his  men, 
came  to  General  Braddock  and  offered  to  help  him  as 
scouts.  But  Braddock  put  all  his  confidence  in  his  solid 
ranks  of  English  soldiers,  and  he  foolishly  refused  the  offer 
of  the  Black  Hunter  and  his  men. 

As  the  army  drew  near  to  Fort  Duquesne,  Washington 
suggested  to  the  commander  that  the  Virginia  rangers 
should  be  sent  in  front,  because  they  were  used  to  the 
woods.  But  Braddock  was  angry  to  think  that  a  young 
American  should  advise  an  old  British  general. 

On  the  9th  of  July,  1755,  as  Braddock’s  army  was 
marching  along  the  narrow  track  through  the  woods,  the 
Indians  and  French  attacked  them.  All  at  once  the  woods 
rang  with  the  wild  war  cry  of  the  Indians,  like  the  bark¬ 
ing  of  a  thousand  wild  animals.  The  forest,  but  a  minute 
before  so  silent,  was  alive  with  screaming  savages.  From 
every  tree  and  thicket  the  Indians  leveled  their  rifles  at  the 
red  coats  of  the  English,  who  fell  lik$  pigeons  under  their 
•fire.  Unable  to  see  anybody  to  shoot  at,  the  English  sol¬ 
diers  did  not  know  what  to  do.  The  Americans  took  to 
the  trees  and  stumps  and  returned  the  fire  in  Indian  fash¬ 
ion,  and  Washington  begged  the  general  to  order  the  Brit¬ 
ish  to  do  the  same;  but  Braddock  made  them  stand  up 
in'  line,  where  they  could  easily  be  shot  down. 

Braddock  fought  bravely,  and  fell  at  length  mortally 
wounded.  Colonel  Washington  did  his  best  to  rally  the 
men  and  save  the  battle.  He  had  two  horses  shot  under 


1 14  WASHINGTON  IN  THE  FRENCH  WAR. 

him,  and  four  bullets  went  through  his  coat.  The  army, 
so  gay  and  brave  in  the  morning,  was  soon  broken  to 
pieces,  and  the  men  fled  back  to  the  settlements. 

But  Washington  had  become  the  hero  of  the  people. 
He  was  now  put  in  chief  command  of  the  Virginia  troops  in 
defense  of  the  frontier,  and  managed  affairs  well.  In  1758 
he  commanded  the  foremost  division  in  an  expedition  un¬ 
der  General  Forbes,  which  slowly  cut  its  way  through  the 
rough  wilderness  of  Pennsylvania,  and,  having  at  last  got 
over  the  mountains,  forced  the  French  to  leave  Fort  Du- 
quesne.  The  fort  was  rebuilt  by  the  English  and  renamed 
Fort  Pitt,  in  honor  of  William  Pitt,  the  great  prime  minis¬ 
ter  of  England,  who  was  a  true  friend  to  the  Americans. 
When  a  town  grew  around  Fort  Pitt  it  was  called  Pittsburg. 

The  war  between  the  English  and  the  French  was 
finally  closed  in  1763.  Canada,  with  all  the  country  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  was  given  up  to  the  English,  and  settlers 
soon  began  to  make  their  way  into  the  region  now  known 
as  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

Before  the  war  closed  Washington  retired  to  his  home 
at  Mount  Vernon,  and  was  married  to  Mrs.  Martha  Custis, 
a  widow. 

Scouts,  soldiers  sent  out,  singly  or  in  small  parties,  to  search  for 
hidden  enemies  and  to  gain  information  Woods '-man,  a  man  skilled 
in  the  ways  of  living  and  traveling  in  the  woods.  Hunt'-ing  shirt, 
a  loose  shirt  or  jacket,  at  first  made  of  deerskin,  but  sometimes  of  home- 
spun  cloth,  and  worn  by  hunters.  Ranks,  rows  or  lines  of  soldiers. 
Rang'-ers,  troops  employed  to  range,  or  ride  through  the  woods  and 
guard  the  settlements  from  Indians.  Wounded  [woond'-ed],  injured  as 
by  a  cut  or  a  gunshot.  Mor'-tal-ly  wounded,  so  badly  wounded 
as  to  cause  death  after  a  while. 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  FRENCH  WAR. 


115 


Tell — How  Washington’s  first  battle  came  about. 

How  Washington  was  defeated  at  Fort  Necessity. 

How  General  Braddock  marched. 

About  Braddock’s  defeat. 

How  Fort  Duquesne  was  taken  at  last. 

The  result  of  the  war  between  the  English  and  French  colonies. 
Also  tell — About  Captain  Jack. 

About  Washington  in  battle. 

About  Washington’s  marriage. 


XX. 

Washington  in  the  Revolution. 

WASHINGTON  lived  for  many  years  quietly  at  Mount 
Vernon,  and  he  did  not  intend  to  have  anything  more  to 
do  with  a  soldier’s  life.  He  was  fond  of  hunting  and  fish- 
ing.  He  sometimes  helped  to  haul  a  seine  in  the  Potomac 
River.  He  rode  over  his  large  plantation  to  see  that  all 
went  well,  and  he  made  maps  of  all  his  fields,  and  kept 
his  accounts  carefully  and  neatly,  as  he  had  always  done. 
All  traveling  strangers  were  sure  of  welcome  at  his  house, 
and  the  poor,  when  in  danger  of  suffering,  were  provided 
with  corn  from  his  granary. 

But,  as  time  went  on,  the  English  Parliament  tried  to 
collect  a  tax  from  the  Americans.  The  Americans  declared 
that,  so  long  as  they  elected  no  members  of  Parliament, 
that  body  had  no  right  to  tax  them  without  their  consent. 
But  the  men  who  governed  in  England  did  not  think  that 
people  in  the  colonies  had  the  same  rights  as  people  in 
England,  so  they  oppressed  the  Americans  in  many  ways. 
Without  asking  consent  of  the  colonies,  they  put  a  tax  on 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 


I  1 6 

all  the  tea  that  came  into  America;  and  when  some  of 
the  tea  got  to  Boston,  the  people  turned  Boston  Harbor 
into  one  big  teapot  by  pitching  the  whole  shipload  of 
tea  into  the  water.  The  English  government  resolved  to 
punish  Boston,  but  the  other  colonies  took  sides  with  the 
people  of  that  town. 

In  order  to  make  the  English  government  cease  their 
oppressions,  the  Americans  agreed  not  to  wear  clothes 
made  of  English  cloth,  nor  to  use  anything  else  brought 
from  England.  Washington  and  other  great  gentlemen 
of  that  time  put  on  homespun  American  clothes,  which 
were  coarse,  for  the  Americans  had  not  yet  learned  how 
to  make  fine  goods.  American  ladies,  who  were  extreme¬ 
ly  fond  of  tea,  which  they  drank  from  pretty  little  cups 
brought  from  China,  now  gave  up  their  favorite  drink. 
Instead  of  it,  they  sipped  a  tea  made  from  the  leaves  of  the 
sage  plants  in  their  gardens,  or  from  the  roots  and  flowers 
of  the  sassafras.  Probably  they  tried  to  drink  these  home¬ 
grown  teas  with  cheerful  faces,  and  to  make  believe  that 
they  liked  sage  and  sassafras  as  well  as  the  real  tea  from 
China.  It  must  have  been  a  pleasure  to  feel  that  they 
were  fighting  a  battle  for  liberty  over  their  tea  tables. 

Washington,  in  his  quiet  way,  was  a  strong  supporter 
of  liberty  against  the  King  of  England  and  the  Parliament. 
In  order  to  bring  all  the  thirteen  colonies  to  stand  by  one 
another  against  England  a  meeting,  called  a  “  Congress,” 
was  appointed  in  1774,  and  men  were  sent  from  each 
colony  to  attend  it.  Washington  was  a  member  of  this 
Congress,  which  sent  a  letter  to  the  king,  demanding  that 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 


II 7 


MINUTEMAN. 


they  should  be  allowed  the  same  liberties  as 
his  subjects  in  England. 

But  neither  the  King  of  England  nor  the 
English  Parliament  would  repeal  the  laws 
which  the  Americans  disliked.  As  the  Ameri¬ 
cans  would  not  obey  them,  the  quarrel  grew 
hotter,  and  English  troops  were  sent  to  bring 
the  Americans  to  submit.  On  the  19th  of 
April,  I775>  the  Revolutionary  War  was  be¬ 
gun  by  a  battle  at  Lexington,  near  Boston, 
between  British  troops  and  American  farmers. 
These  farmers,  who  were  called  “  minutemen,”  drove  the 
troops  back  into  Boston,  firing  on  them  from  every  field 
and  fence  as  they  retreated. 

Seeing  that  war  had  begun,  Congress  looked  about  for 
a  leader.  They  remembered  the  prudent  and  brave  con¬ 
duct  of  Colonel  George 
Washington,  when  a  young 
man,  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War.  He  was  chosen 
to  be  general  and  commander 
in  chief  of  all  the  armies  of  the 
colonies. 

Before  Washington  reached 
the  army  near  Boston,  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill  had  taken  place. 

In  this  battle  the  Americans  had 
been  driven  from  the  hill,  but  their 
little  force  of  plain  countrymen  had 


coward 

-Li  '  l£Xmt.T«K 

r.54  ‘  vy*m 


> 


THIS  MAP  SHOWS  THE 
8CENE8  OF  THE 
FIRST  BATTLES  OF  THE 
REVOLUTION. 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 


1 1 8 


fought  so  stubbornly  against  the  well-trained  English 
troops  that  all  America  was  encouraged. 

For  many  months  Washington  kept  a  fine  British  army 
shut  up  in  Boston.  When  he  was  strong  enough  he 
suddenly  sent  a  body  of  troops  to  Dorchester  Heights, 
near  Boston,  where,  by  the  help  of  bales  of  hay,  breast¬ 
works  were  built  in  a  single  night.  When  the  English 
general  saw  these  works,  he  said,  “  The  rebels  have  done 
more  in  one  night  than  my  army  would  have  done  in 
one  month.”  The  Americans  began  to  throw  shells  from 
the  Dorchester  battery  into  Boston,  which  soon  became  so 
uncomfortable  a  place  to  stay  in  that  the  English  army 
got  into  ships  and  sailed  away. 


sii 


W0m 

WMWWMmm 


. 

e«^@*is»pp 

glpipiissp® 

ma&mgmm 


if.  ,  ,’tv  '.'t-J&iZ-’+J-- ‘y*-,:?’  r- 


IMP*  ste'* 


M/A 


L‘*;£^.St5V?'' 


W0Z 


CROSSING  THE  DELAWARE. 


The  Americans  at  first  were  fighting  only  to  get  their 
rights  as  subjects  of  England.  But  since  neither  the  King 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 


1 19 


nor  the  Parliament  of  England  would  let  them  have  their 
rights,  they  got  tired  of  calling  themselves  Englishmen. 
They  determined  to  set  up  an  independent  government. 
On  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  Congress  declared  the  colonies 
“  free  and  independent.”  This 
is  called  the  “  Declaration 
of  Independence.” 

Soon  after  the  Dec 
laration  was  adopted 
the  English  govern¬ 
ment  sent  a  fleet 
and  an  army  to 
take  New  York. 

Washington  fought 
against  the  English 
army  on  Long  Is¬ 
land,  and  was  defeated 
and  forced  to  give  1 
New  York.  After  a  while 
he  had  to  fall  back  across  New 
Jersey.  It  seemed  as  though  all 
were  lost.  But  though  his  men  were  too  few  to  fight  the 
whole  English  army,  Washington  felt  that  he  must  strike 
a  blow  at  some  part  of  it  in  order  to  give  the  Ameri¬ 
cans  courage.  The  English  people  did  not  like  the  war 
against  the  Americans,  so  the  king  had  hired  some  Hes¬ 
sian  soldiers  to  fight  for  him.  About  a  thousand  of  these 
were  in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  while  Washington  was  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Delaware,  a  little  way  off.  On  Christmas 


MARCH  TO  TRENTON. 


120  WASHINGTON  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 

*  * 

night  the  Hessians  were  celebrating  the  day.  Washing¬ 
ton  celebrated  it  in  his  own  fashion.  He  took  part  of  his 
army,  and  crossed  the  Delaware  in  the  midst  of  floating 
ice.  There  was  a  severe  snowstorm,  and  two  of  his  men 
were  frozen  to  death.  He  marched  quickly  to  Trenton, 
and  after  a  sharp  fight  he  took  about  a  thousand  pris¬ 
oners,  as  Christmas  presents  for  his  country. 

Washington  got  back  across  the  Delaware  with  his 
prisoners,  but  in  a  few  days  he  was  again  in  Trenton,  where 
he  came  near  being  surrounded  and  captured  by  the  Eng¬ 
lish  general  Cornwallis.  The 
Delaware  was  so  full  of  ice 
that  the  Americans  could  not 
get  back  to  the  other  side  of 
it,  and  a  strong  English  force 
was  pressing  upon  them  in 
front.  Something  must  be 
done  quickly.  So  at  night 
Washington  had  all  his  camp 
fires  built  up,  in  order  to 
deceive  the  enemy.  He  put 
a  few  men  to  digging  in  the 
trenches,  and  had  them  make 
as  much  noise  as  possible. 
Then  he  took  his  army  silent¬ 
ly  by  a  back  road  around 
the  English  army  till  he  got 
behind  it.  While  Cornwallis 
thought  he  had  Washington 


BRITISH  FORCES  AT  TRENTON 
AND  MARCHED  ON  PRINCETON. 


WASHINGTON  IN  THE  REVOLUTION. 


1 2 1 


cooped  up  in  Trenton,  the  Americans  were  marching  on 
Princeton,  where  there  was  a  detachment  of  the  English 
troops.  Washington,  after  a  sharp  battle,  defeated  the 
English  in  Princeton.  Cornwallis  had  gone  to  bed  boast¬ 
ing  that  he  “  would  bag  the  fox”  in  the  morning;  but 
when  morning  came,  “  the  fox”  was  gone.  Cornwallis 
thought  at  first  that  the  Americans  had  retreated  across 
the  Delaware,  but  soon  he  heard  the  booming  of  cannons 
away  behind  him  at  Princeton;  then  he  knew  that  Wash¬ 
ington  had  outwitted  him.  He  had  to  hasten  back  to 
New  Brunswick  to  save  his  stores,  while  Washington  went 
into  the  hills  at  Morristown,  having  forced  the  British  to 
give  up  the  greater  part  of  New  Jersey. 

Seine  [sain],  a  long  net  for  catching  fish,  which  is  dragged  through 
the  water  by  men  pulling  at  each  end  of  it.  Gran'-a-ry,  a  building  for 
storing  grain.  Parliament  [par'-li-ment],  the  body  of  men  which  makes 
the  laws  of  England,  consisting  of  the  House  of  Lords  and  the  House  of 
Commons.  Breast'-works,  ridges  of  earth  thrown  up  to  protect  an 
army  in  battle.  Fleet,  a  number  of  ships  of  war  under  the  command  of 
one  officer.  Out-wit' -ted,  defeated  by  greater  ingenuity  or  cunning. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  about — 

Washington’s  life  at  Mount  Vernon. 

The  quarrel  with  England. 

The  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  W ar. 

The  battles  near  Boston. 

Washington’s  retreat  from  New  York. 

The  capture  of  Trenton. 

The  battle  of  Princeton. 

Tell  also  what  you  remember  about — 

The  tea  in  Boston  Harbor. 

What  the  Americans  wore,  and  what  they  used  for  tea 


122 


THE  VICTORY  AT  YORKTOWN. 


XXI. 

The  Victory  at  Yorktown  and  Washington  as  President. 

In  larger  histories  you  will  read  of  the  many  battles  of 
the  Revolution,  and  of  the  sad  sufferings  of  Washington’s 
soldiers,  who  were  sometimes  obliged  to  march  barefoot, 
leaving  tracks  of  blood  on  the  frozen  ground.  Sometimes 
a  soldier  had  to  sit  by  the  fire  all  night  for  want  of  a 
blanket  to  cover  himself  with.  There  were  not  many  peo¬ 
ple  in  this  country  then,  and  they  were  mostly  farmers, 
with  but  little  money.  They  were  fighting  against  Eng¬ 
land,  which  was  the  richest  and  strongest  nation  of  that 
time.  But  after  a  while  France  sent  men  and  ships  to 
help  the  United  States  to  finish  the  war. 

The  Revolutionary  War  lasted  about  seven  years  in 
all.  A  great  victory  which  Washington  gained  when  the 
war  had  lasted  more  than  six  years  really  finished  the 
struggle. 

General  Cornwallis,  the  same  whom  Washington  had 
fooled  when  he  slipped  out  of  Trenton,  had  won  several 
victories  over  American  troops  in  the  Southern  States. 
'But  he  could  not  subdue  the  people,  who  were  always 
ready  to  rise  up  again  when  he  thought  he  had  conquered 
them.  Cornwallis  marched  northward  from  Carolina  into 
Virginia,*  where  he  did  a  great  deal  of  damage.  Wash¬ 
ington  was  in  the  North  watching  New  York,  which  was 
occupied  by  English  troops.  He  thought  if  he  could  cap¬ 
ture  the  fine  army  which  Cornwallis  commanded  in  Virginia 
he  might  end  the  war. 


THE  VICTORY  AT  YORKTOWN. 


123 


So,  making  every  sign  that  he  was  going  to  attack 
New  York,  in  order  that  soldiers  might  not  be  sent  from 
New  York  to  Cornwallis,  he  marched  at  the  head  of  the 
American  and  French  armies  toward  the  South.  On  the 
way,  he  visited  his  home  at  Mount  Vernon  for  the  first 
time  in  six  years. 

Soon  Cornwallis  and  his  army  were  shut  up  in  York- 
town,  as  Washington  had  once  been  shut  up  by  Cornwallis 


escape,  as  Washington  did.  Troops  were  sent  all 
around  him  like  a  net,  to  keep  him  from  getting  away, 
while  the  French  ships  in  Chesapeake  Bay  kept  him  from 
getting  any  help  by  way  of  the  sea.  The  fighting  about 
Yorktown  was  very  severe,  and  the  most  splendid  cour¬ 
age  was  shown  by  both  the  American  and  the  French 


124 


THE  VICTORY  AT  YORKTOWN. 


soldiers  in  charging  the  redoubts.  The  English  fought 
with  the  greatest  stubbornness  on  their  side. 

During  the  assaults  Washington  stood  where  he  could 
see  the  bravery  of  the  troops.  One  of  his  aides  told  him 
that  it  was  a  dangerous  place  for  him  to  be  in. 

If  you  think  so  you  are  at  liberty  to  step  back,”  said 
Washington. 

Presently  a  musket  ball  struck  a  cannon  near  him  and 
rolled  at  his  feet.  General  Knox  grasped  Washington’s 
arm,  and  said,  “  My  dear  general,  we  can  not  spare  you 
yet.” 

It  is  a  spent  ball.  No  harm  is  done,”  answered  Wash¬ 
ington. 

Finding  he  could  no  longer  resist,  Cornwallis  surren¬ 
dered,  and  the  war  was  virtually  closed  by  the  taking  of 
Yorktown.  The  people  of  England  had  never  liked  this 
oppressive  war,  and  the  next  year  the  English  govern¬ 
ment  felt  obliged  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  the 
United  States. 

Washington  did  not  seek  to  make  himself  a  king  or  a 
ruler  over  the  country  he  had  set  free.  When  his  work  was 
over  he  gladly  gave  up  command  of  the  army,  and  went 
back  to  become,  as  he  said,  ”  a  private  citizen  on  the  banks 
of  the  Potomac.”  While  all  the  world  was  praising  him, 
he  went  to  work  again  taking  care  of  his  lands  and  crops 
at  Mount  Vernon,  with  the  intention  of  never  leaving  his 
home  for  public  life  again. 

But  the  people  soon  found  that  their  government  was 
not  strong  enough.  Each  State  was  almost  a  little  country 


WASHINGTON  AS  PRESIDENT. 


125 


by  itself,  and  the  nation  Washington  and  others  had  fought 
so  hard  to  set  free  seemed  about  to  fall  into  thirteen 
pieces.  So  a  convention  was  called,  to  meet  in  Phila¬ 
delphia  in  1787,  five  years  after  the  close  of  the  Revo¬ 
lution.  This  convention,  of  which  Washington  was  the 
president,  made  a  new  Constitution,  which  should  bind  all 
the  States  together  into  one  country,  under  the  rule  of  a 
President  and  Congress. 

When  the  new  Constitution  had  been  adopted  it  be¬ 
came  necessary  to  choose  a  President.  Everybody  wanted 
Washington  to  leave  his  fields  and  be  the  first  President. 
He  was  elected  by  almost  all  the  votes  cast. 

At  that  time  the  capital  of  the  country  was  New  York. 
There  were  no  railroads  or  telegraphs,  so  a  messenger  had 
to  be  sent  from  New  York  to  Mount  Vernon  to  tell  Gen¬ 
eral  Washington  that  he  had  been  chosen  the  first  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  United  States.  As  the  general  traveled  to 
New  York  the  people  turned  out  everywhere  to  do  him 
honor.  They  rode  by  his  carriage,  and  they  welcomed 
him  with  public  dinners  in  the  towns.  When  he  got  to 
Trenton,  out  of  which  he  had  marched  to  escape  from 
Cornwallis  and  fight  the  battle  of  Princeton,  he  found  the 
bridge  over  which  he  had  marched  that  night  beautifully 
decorated.  A  triumphal  arch  had  been  erected  by  the 
women  of  Trenton,  and,  as  the  President  passed  beneath 
it,  girls  dressed  in  white  sang  a  song  of  victory,  and 
strewed  flowers  before  him. 

When  he  reached  Elizabethtown  Point  there  was  in 
waiting  for  him  a  handsome  large  barge.  In  this  he  was 


126 


WASHINGTON  AS  PRESIDENT 


dressed  in  white,  and  six  other 

barges  kept  him  company.  The  whole  city  of  New  York 
welcomed  him  with  every  possible  honor.  On  the  30th  of 
April,  1789,  he  took  the  oath  of  office,  in  the  presence  of 
a  great  throng  of  people. 

Washington  was  again  elected  President  in  1792.  He 
refused  to  be  elected  a  third  time,  and,  after  publishing  a 
farewell  address  to  the  country,  he  left  the  presidency  in 
1797.  He  died  at  Mount  Vernon  in  1799. 

Aide  [aid],  an  officer  whose  duty  it  is  to  convey  the  orders  of  a  gen¬ 
eral.  A  spent  ball,  a  ball  that  has  almost  stopped  moving.  Barge, 
used  here  in  the  sense  of  a  large  rowboat.  Oath  of  office,  a  sworn 
pledge  to  perform  the  duties  of  an  office. 


WASHINGTON  AS  PRESIDENT. 


127 


Tell  of — Cornwallis  in  Virginia. 

Washington’s  march  to  Yorktown. 

The  battle  at  Yorktown. 

The  end  of  the  war. 

The  making  of  the  Constitution. 

Washington  as  President. 

What  is  said  of  the  hardships  of  soldiers  in  the  Revolution? 
What  country  helped  the  United  States  against  England  ? 
How  was  Cornwallis  shut  up  in  Yorktown? 

What  anecdote  of  Washington  in  this  battle  is  told  ? 

What  did  Washington  do  when  the  war  was  over  ? 

Tell  about  the  journey  of  Washington  to  New  York. 

What  does  the  frontispiece  of  this  book  show  ? 

When  and  where  did  Washington  die  ? 

What  do  you  think  of  his  character  ? 


XXII. 

Thomas  Jefferson. 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  the  author  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  His  father  was  a  Virginia  planter,  and 
also  a  surveyor.  The  father  was  a  man  of  strong  frame, 
able  to  stand  between  two  great  hogsheads  of  tobacco 
lying  on  their  sides  and  set  both  on  end  at  once.  He 
lived  a  hardy  life,  surveying  in  the  woods. 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  born  in  1743.  His  father  died 
when  he  was  fourteen,  and  left  him  the  owner  of  a  large 
plantation.  Like  most  Virginia  boys,  he  was  fond  of  hunt¬ 
ing,  riding,  and  swimming.  But  he  did  not  waste  his  life 
in  sport.  When  he  went  to  college  at  Williamsburg  he 
became  a  famous  student.  Sometimes  he  studied  fifteen 
hours  a  day,  which  would  have  been  too  much  if  he  had 


!  28 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


JT'V/ 

t<4 

'-pm 


not  been  strong.  No  man  in  all  America,  perhaps,  was 
his  superior  in  knowledge. 

While  he  was  a  student,  the  colonies  were  thrown  into 
violent  excitement  by  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  in 
England.  This  was  a  law  for  taxing  the  Americans,  made 
without  their  consent.  While  this  excitement  was  raging, 
young  Jefferson  went  into  the  Virginia  Legislature  one 
day  and  heard  the  famous  speech  of  Patrick  Henry  against 
the  Stamp  Act. 

In  the  midst  of  his  speech  Patrick  Henry  cried  out, 
“  Caesar  had  his  Brutus,  Charles  I  his  Cromwell,  and 
George  III — ”  At  this  point  everybody  thought  Henry 

was  going  to  threaten  the  death  of  George  III,  who  was 
King  of  England  and  of  the  colonies.  This  would  have 
been  treason.  So,  without  waiting  for  Henry  to  finish, 
some  of  those  who  heard  him  broke  into  an  uproar,  cry¬ 
ing  out,  “Treason!  treason!” 
But  when  they  paused,  Pat¬ 
rick  Henry  finished  by 
saying,  “  George  III 
may  profit  by  their  ex¬ 
ample.  If  that  be  trea¬ 
son,  make  the  most  of 
it.”  This  scene  made 
V'r -Ai  a  deep  impression  on 

iPr*"'-*'  young  Jefferson. 

monticello.  Jefferson’s  wealth  was  in¬ 

creased  by  his  marriage.  He  built  him  a  house  which  he 
called  Monticello  [mon-te-sel'-lo],  meaning,  “  little  moun- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


129 


tain,”  from  its  situation  on  a  high  hill.  Jefferson  was  very 
fond  of  trying  new  things.  He  introduced  foreign  plants 
and  trees,  and  he  brought  in  new  articles  of  furniture  and 
new  ways  of  building  houses. 

While  yet  a  young  man  he  was  sent  to  the  Virginia 
Legislature,  and  then  to  Congress.  He  strongly  favored 
the  War  of  the  Revolution.  John  Adams  and  others  tried 
to  persuade  Congress  to  declare  the  colonies  independent 
of  England.  At  last  a  committee  was  appointed  to  write 
the  Declaration.  Jefferson  was  not  a  great  speaker,  but 
he  was  a  brilliant  writer.  He  wrote  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  it  was  signed  by  the  members  of  Con¬ 
gress  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776. 

In  the  Declaration  Jefferson  had  declared  that  **  all 
men  are  created  equal.”  He  now  set  about  abolishing  some 
of  the  laws  which  kept  men  from  being  equal  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  In  his  own  State  of  Virginia  much  of  the  land  was  tied 
up  so  that  it  could  only  descend  to  the  oldest  son.  This 
was  called  the  law  of  entail.  Jefferson  got  this  law  abol¬ 
ished,  so  that  a  father’s  land  would  be  more  equally  divided 
among  his  children. 

There  were  also  laws  in  most  of  the  States  which 
established  some  religious  denomination  as  the  religion  of 
the  State,  and  supported  it  by  taxes.  Jefferson  got  Vir¬ 
ginia  to  pass  a  law  separating  the  State  from  the  Church, 
and  making  all  men  equal  in  regard  to  their  religion. 

Jefferson  was  governor  of  Virginia  during  part  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  he  had  to  make  great  exertions 
to  defend  the  State  from  the  British.  The  British  troops 


130 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


at  length  marched  on  Monticello,  and  Jefferson  had  to  flee 
from  his  house. 

Two  of  Jefferson’s  negro  slaves,  whose  names  were 
Martin  and  Caesar,  made  haste  to  hide  their  master’s  silver 

plate.  They  had  raised  a 
plank  in  the  floor,  and 
Caesar  was  crouched  un¬ 
der  the  floor  hiding  the 
silverware  as  Martin 
handed  it  down  to  him. 
Just  as  the  last  piece 
went  down,  Martin  saw 
the  redcoats  approach¬ 
ing.  He  dropped  the 
plank,  leaving  Caesar  a 
prisoner.  In  this  uncom¬ 
fortable  place  the  faithful 
fellow  lay  still  for  three  days 
"the  redcoats  are  COMING  I  ”  and  nights  without  food. 

Jefferson  was  very  loving  and  tender  to  his  family.  It 
was  a  great  sorrow  to  him  that  four  out  of  his  six  chil¬ 
dren  died  very  young.  His  wife  also  died  at  the  close  of 
the  Revolutionary  War. 

Jefferson  was  sent  to  take  Franklin’s  place  as  Ameri¬ 
can  Minister  to  France.  He  was  there  five  years,  and 
then  returned  to  America.  He  had  always  been  kind  to 
the  negroes  on  his  plantation.  When  he  got  back  they 
were  so  rejoiced  that  they  took  him  out  of  his  carriage 
and  carried  him  into  the  house,  some  of  them  crying  and 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


131 

others  laughing  with  delight  because  “  massa  come  home 
again.” 

While  Jefferson  was  gone,  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  had  been  adopted  and  General  Washington  had  been 
elected  President.  He  appointed  Jefferson  Secretary  of 
State.  Jefferson  resigned  this  office  after  some  years,  and 
went  back  to  Monticello. 

In  1796  he  was  elected  Vice  President,  and  in  1800  he 
was  chosen  President  of  the  United  States.  As  President 
he  introduced  a  more  simple  way  of  living  and  transacting 
business.  He  was  much  opposed  to  pomp  and  ceremony. 
It  is  said  that  when  he  was  inaugurated  he  rode  to  the 
Capitol  on  horseback  and  hitched  his  horse  to  the  fence. 
Another  account  has  it  that  he  walked  there  in  company 
with  a  few  gentlemen.  At  any  rate,  he  would  have  no  dis¬ 
play,  but  lived  like  a  simple  citizen. 

When  Jefferson  became  President  the  United  States 
extended  only  to  the  Mississippi  River.  President  Jeffer¬ 
son  bought  from  France  a  great  region  west  of  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi,  larger  than  all  the  United  States  had  been  before 
that  time.  This  is  known  as  the  “  Louisiana  purchase,” 
because  all  the  country  bought  from  France  was  then 
called  Louisiana.  It  has  been  cut  up  into  many  States 
since  its  purchase. 

Jefferson  was  elected  President  a  second  time  in  1804. 
In  1809  he  retired  to  Monticello,  where  he  lived  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  his  life. 

He  was  once  riding  with  his  grandson  when  a  negro 
bowed  to  them.  Jefferson  returned  the  bow,  but  the  boy 


132 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


did  not.  Jefferson  turned  to  his  grandson,  and  said,  “  Do 
you  allow  a  poor  negro  to  be  more  of  a  gentleman 

than  you  are  ?  ” 

While  he  was  Presi- 


dent,  Jefferson  was  once 
riding  on  horseback  with 
some  friends.  An  old 
man  stood  by  a  stream 
waiting  to  get  across 
without  wetting  his  feet. 
After  most  of  the  others 
had  passed  over,  he  asked 
Jefferson  to  take  him  on 
behind  and  carry  him 
across,  which  he  did.  When  he 
had  got  down,  a  gentleman,  com¬ 
ing  up  behind,  asked  him,  “  Why  did  you  ask  him,  and 
not  some  other  gentleman  in  the  party?” 

‘‘I  did  not  like  to  ask  them,”  said  the  old  man; 
”  but  the  old  gentleman  there  looked  like  he  would  do 
it,  and  so  I  asked  him.”  He  was  very  much  surprised 
to  learn  that  it  was  the  President  who  had  carried  him 
over. 

After  Jefferson  retired  from  the  presidency  so  many 
people  desired  to  see  him  that  his  plantation  house  was 
overrun  with  company,  until  he  was  made  poor  by  enter¬ 
taining  those  who  came.  It  is  related  that  one  woman  even 
poked  a  pane  of  glass  out  with  her  parasol,  in  order  to  see 
the  man  who  wrote  the  great  Declaration. 


JEFFERSON  AND  THE  NEGRO. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 


133 


John  Adams,  the  second  President,  and  Jefferson,  the 
third,  lived  to  be  very  old.  They  died  on  the  same  day. 
Curiously,  that  day  was  the  4th  of  July,  1826.  If  you  sub¬ 
tract  1776  from  1826,  you  will  find  that  they  died  exactly 
fifty  years  after  the  day  on  which  the  great  Declaration 
was  signed.  And  they  were  the  two  men  who  had  the 
largest  share  in  the  making  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde¬ 
pendence. 

Treason  [tree'-z’n],  the  crime  of  attempting  to  overthrow  the  sov¬ 
ereign,  or  the  government  of  one’s  country.  Brilliant  [bril'-yant], 
shining,  splendid.  Secretary  of  State,  the  officer  who  superintends  the 
business  of  the  United  States  with  other  nations.  In-au'-gu-ra-ted, 
put  into  office  with  proper  ceremonies. 

Tell  about — 

Jefferson’s  boyhood. 

Patrick  Henry’s  speech. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  law  of  entail. 

The  separation  of  the  State  from  the  Church. 

Jefferson  as  Minister  to  France. 

Jefferson  as  President. 

The  Louisiana  purchase. 

What  can  you  tell — 

Of  Jefferson’s  home  ? 

Of  his  negro  slaves  ? 

Of  his  inauguration  as  President? 

Of  his  politeness  to  poor  people  ? 

Of  the  desire  of  people  to  see  him  ? 

Of  his  death  ? 

Date  to  be  remembered— The  Fourth  of  July,  1  776,  when  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed. 

Note.— The  addition  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States  is  illustrated 
by  a  map  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  book. 


134 


DANIEL  BOONE. 


XXIII. 


THE  BOY  HUNTER. 


Daniel  Boone. 


DANIEL  Boone  was  born  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania  in  1735*  Boone 
was  a  hunter  from  the 
time  he  was  old  enough 
to  hold  a  gun  to 
his  shoulder. 
He  got  just 
enough  education  to  know 
how  to  read  and  write  in  a 
rough  way.  But  in  the  woods  he  learned  the  lessons  that 
made  him  the  great  pioneer 
and  explorer. 

One  day  the  boy  did 
not  return  from  his 
hunting.  The  neigh¬ 
bors  searched  sev¬ 
eral  days  before 
they  found  him. 

He  had  built  a 
little  cabin  of  sod 
and  boughs.  Skins 
of  animals  were 
drying  around  the  hut, 
and  the  young  half-sav¬ 
age  was  toasting  a  piece  of  meat  before  the  fire.  This 
love  for  the  wilderness  was  the  ruling  passion  of  his  life. 


TRYING 


SAVAGE. 


DANIEL  BOONE. 


135 


By  the  time  Daniel  was  thirteen  the  part  of  Pennsylva¬ 
nia  in  which  he  lived  had  become  settled.  The  Boones, 
like  true  backwoodsmen,  moved  to  a  wilder  region  on  the 
Yadkin  River,  in  North  Carolina.  While  Daniel’s  father 
and  brothers  cleared  a  new  farm,  the  boy  hunter  was  left 
to  supply  the  table  with  meat. 

One  of  Boone’s  modes  of  hunting  was  by  “  shining 
deer,”  as  it  was  called  in  that  country — that  is,  hunting 
deer  at  night  with  torches,  and  killing  them  by  shooting 
at  their  glistening  eyes.  One  night  Boone,  hunting  in  this 
fashion,  saw  a  pair  of  eyes  shining  in  the  dark  which  he 
thought  to  be  deer’s  eyes,  but  which  proved  to  be  those  of 
a  neighbor’s  daughter,  whom  Boone  afterwards  married. 

As  the  country  was  settling,  he  moved  on  to  the  head¬ 
waters  of  the  river,  where  he  and  his  young  wife  set  up 
their  log  cabin  in  the  lonesome  wilderness.  At  this  time 
the  Alleghany  Mountains  formed  a  great  wall,  beyond 
which  was  a  vast  wilderness,  with  no  inhabitants  but  In¬ 
dians  and  wild  animals.  (See  map,  page  no.)  Boone  was 
too  fond  of  wild  life  and  too  daring  not  to  wish  to  take  a 
peep  over  the  mountains  and  get  a  sight  of  the  land  on 
the  other  side.  Fifteen  years  before  the  Revolutionary 
War  began,  he  pushed  across  the  mountain  wall  and  hunt¬ 
ed  bears  in  what  is  now  Tennessee. 

In  1769  he  went  into  Kentucky  with  five  others.  Here 
he  hunted  the  buffalo  for  the  first  time,  and  came  near  being 
run  down  by  a  herd  of  them.  At  length  he  and  a  man 
named  Stewart  were  taken  captive  by  the  Indians.  Boone 
pretended  to  be  very  cheerful.  When  he  had  been  seven 


1^6 


DANIEL  BOONE. 


days  in  captivity,  the  Indians,  having  eaten  a  hearty  sup¬ 
per,  all  fell  into  a  sound  sleep.  Boone  sat  up.  One  of 
the  Indians  moved.  Boone  lay  down  again.  After  a  while 

he  rose  up 
once  more. 
As  the  In¬ 
dians  all  lay 
still,  he  wak¬ 
ened  Stew¬ 
art,  and  they 
took  two 

guns  and  qui¬ 
etly  slipped 
away,  getting 
back  in  safe¬ 
ty  to  a  cab¬ 
in  they  had 
built.  But 
they  never 

found  any  trace  of  the  four  men  who  had  crossed  the 
Alleghanies  with  them. 

One  day,  when  Boone  and  Stewart  were  hunting,  a  lot 
of  arrows  were  shot  out  of  a  canebrake  near  them,  and 
Stewart  fell  dead.  Boone’s  brother  and  another  man  had 
come  from  North  Carolina  to  find  Daniel.  The  other  man 
walked  out  one  day  and  was  eaten  up  by  wolves.  There 
were  now  only  the  two  Boones  left  of  eight  men  in  all  who 
had  crossed  the  mountains. 

By  this  time  Boone  ought  to  have  had  enough  of  the 


BOONE  ESCAPE8. 


DANIEL  BOONE. 


137 


wilderness.  But  the  fearless  Daniel  sent  his  brother  back 
to  North  Carolina ’for  ammunition  and  horses,  while  he 
spent  the  winter  in  this  almost  boundless  forest,  with  no 
neighbors  but  Indians,  wolves,  and  other  wild  creatures. 
This  was  just  what  Daniel  Boone  liked,  for  he  was  him¬ 
self  a  wild  man. 

Once  the  Indians  chased  him.  Seeing  them  at  a  dis¬ 
tance,  following  his  tracks  like  dogs  after  a  deer,  he 
caught  hold  of  one  of  those  long,  wild  grapevines  that 
dangle  from  the  tall  trees  in  Kentucky,  and  swung  him¬ 
self  away  out  in  the  air  and  then  dropped  down.  When 
the  Indians  came  to  the  place  they  could  not  follow  his 
tracks,  and  Boone  got  away. 

He  lived  alone  three  months,  till  his  brother  returned. 
Then  the  Boones  selected  a  spot  on  which  to  settle,  and 
went  back  to  North  Carolina  for  their  families  and  their 
friends.  On  their  way  out  again,  in  1773,  the  Indians  at¬ 
tacked  Boone’s  party  and  killed  six  men,  among  whom 
was  Boone’s  eldest  son.  The  women  of  the  party  now 
went  to  the  nearest  settlement,  but  Boone  made  sev¬ 
eral  journeys  to  and  fro.  In  1775,  just  as  the  Revolu¬ 
tionary  War  broke  out,  he  built  a  fort  in  Kentucky,  and 
called  it  Boonesborough.  Even  while  building  the  fort 
Boone  and  his  friends  were  attacked  by  Indians.  When 
the  fort  was  completed,  Boone’s  wife  and  daughters  came 
to  Boonesborough,  and  they  were  the  first  white  women 
in  Kentucky. 

A  daughter  of  Boone’s  and  two  other  girls  were  cap¬ 
tured  by  the  Indians  while  picking  flowers  outside  of  the 


133 


DANIEL  BOONE. 


fort.  These  cunning  backwoods  girls  managed  to  drop 
shreds  torn  from  their  clothes,  and  to  break  a  bough  now 

and  then,  so  as  to  guide  their  fathers  in 
following  them.  The  party  was 
overtaken  by  Boone  and  others, 
and  the  girls  were  rescued. 

To  tell  of  all  the  battles 
around  Boonesborough,  or  of 
all  of  Daniel  Boone’s  fights  and 
escapes,  would  take  a  great 
part  of  this  book.  Once,  when 
hunting,  he  encountered  two 
Indians.  He  “  treed,”  as  they 
called  it — that  is,  he  got  be¬ 
hind  one  of  the  large  trees 
of  the  forest.  The  Indians 

did  the  same.  Boone  partly 

exposed  himself,  and  one  of 
the  Indians  fired,  but  Boone, 

A  BACKWOODS  GIRL.  .  *1111 

who  was  very  quick,  dodged  at 
the  flash  of  the  Indian’s  gun.  He  played  the  same  trick 
on  the  other.  Then  he  shot  one  of  the  Indians,  and  had 
a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  the  other.  The  Indian  struck 
at  him  with  his  tomahawk,  but  Boone  protected  himself 
with  his  gun  barrel,  and  killed  the  Indian  with  a  knife 
such  as  hunters  of  that  time  carried  in  their  belts. 

One  day  Boone  was  attacked  by  a  hundred  savages. 
He  tried  the  speed  of  his  legs,  but  one  young  Indian 
was  swifter  than  he,  and  he  was  captured.  The  Indians 


DANIEL  BOONE. 


139 


thought  him  a  great  prize.  They  shaved  his  head,  leaw 
ing  a  single  lock,  painted  his  face,  and  dressed  him  up 
like  an  Indian.  Then  they  gave  him  to  an  old  woman 
who  had  lost  her  son.  She  had  her  choice  to  adopt  him 
or  give  him  up  to  be  burned  alive, 
a  long  time  the  squaw  made  up 
her  mind  to  adopt  him. 

The  Indians  among  whom  Boone 
was  a  prisoner  were  fighting  on  the 
English  side  in  the  Revolution. 

The  English  officers  who  were  then 
at  Detroit  bought  all  their  captives 
from  the  Indians,  except  Boone,  and 
they  offered  five  hundred  dollars  for 
Captain  Boone.  But  the  Indians 
would  not  sell  so  great  a  warrior. 

The  English  officers  were  sorry  for 
him,  and  out  of  real  kindness,  when 
they  could  not  buy  him,  they  offered 
him  money.  Boone  refused  to  re¬ 
ceive  any  favors  from  those  who 
were  fighting  against  his  country. 

He  pretended  to  like  the  Indian  way  of  living.  He 
stayed  a  long  time  with  them,  and  took  part  in  all  their 
sports.  He  seemed  to  have  forgotten  his  own  people. 
But  when  he  found  that  they  were  preparing  to  attack 
Boonesborough,  he  got  ready  to  escape.  Pretending  to 
chase  a  deer,  while  holding  a  piece  of  his  breakfast  in  his 
hand,  he  succeeded  in  getting  away.  By  running  in  streams 


After  looking  at  him 


140 


DANIEL  BOONE. 


of  water  he  kept  the  Indians  from  following  his  tracks. 
He  lived  on  roots  and  berries,  and  only  once  ventured  to 
discharge  his  gun  to  get  food. 

When  he  got  back  to  Boonesborough  he  found  that 
his  family  had  given  him  up  for  dead  and  gone  back  to 
North  Carolina.  He  repaired  the  fort,  and  beat  off  five 
hundred  Indians  who  attacked  it. 

Boone  brought  his  family  to  Kentucky  again,  and  was 
in  many  severe  fights  after  this.  Kentucky  had  no  rest 
from  bloodshed  until  Wayne  defeated  the  Indians  in  Ohio, 
in  1794.  (See  page  146.)  When  Kentucky  had  filled  up 
with  people,  the  old  pioneer  went  off  to  Missouri  so  as  to 
get  “  elbowroom.”  The  amusements  of  his  old  age  were 
lying  in  wait  for  deer,  shooting  wild  turkeys,  and  hunting 
for  bee  trees.  He  was  eighty-five  years  old  when  he  died. 

Pi-o-neer',  an  early  settler  in  a  new  country.  Wil'-der-ness,  a 
wild  country  ;  a  country  without  inhabitants.  Dangle  [dang'-g’l],  to  hang 
down.  Cab'-in,  a  small  house.  Cane'-brake,  a  thicket  of  growing 
canes  (such  as  are  used  for  fishing  rods).  Ammunition  [am-mu-nish'- 
un],  things  used  in  loading  a  gun,  as  powder,  bullets,  caps,  and  so  on. 
Fort,  a  place  built  to  keep  out  enemies  in  war.  Shreds,  little  strips 
or  threads  torn  off.  Res '-cued,  saved  from  danger  ;  recovered.  Tom'- 
a-hawk,  an  Indian’s  hatchet.  A-dopt',  to  take  for  one’s  own  child. 
Squaw,  an  Indian  woman.  Bee  tree,  a  tree  in  which  a  swarm  of  wild 
bees  have  stored  honey. 

Tell  about — 

Daniel  Boone  as  a  boy.  His  first  journeys  over  the  mountains. 
His  encounters  with  the  Indians.  The  escape  of  three  Ken¬ 
tucky  girls.  His  long  captivity  and  escape.  His  old  age  and 
death. 

To  be  remembered  : 

The  State  first  settled  by  Daniel  Boone — Kentucky. 


ROBERT  FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT. 


141 


XXIV. 

Robert  Fulton  and  the  Steamboat. 

More  than  a  hundred  years  ago  a  sickly  Scotch  boy 
named  James  Watt  used  to  sit  and  watch  the  lid  of  his 
mother’s  teakettle  as  it  rose  and  fell  while  the  water  was 
boiling,  and  wonder  about  the  power  of  steam,  which 
caused  this  rattling  motion.  In  his  day  there  were  no 
steamboats,  or  steam  mills,  or  railways.  There  was  noth¬ 
ing  but  a  clumsy  steam  engine,  that  could  work  slowly  an 
up-and-down  pump  to  take  water  out  of  mines.  This  had 
been  invented  sixty  years  before.  Watt  became  a  maker 
of  mathematical  instruments.  He  was  once  called  to  re¬ 
pair  one  of  these  wheezy,  old-fashioned  pumping  engines. 
He  went  to  work  to  improve  it,  and  he  became  the  real 
inventor  of  the  first  steam  engine  that  was  good  for  all 
sorts  of  work  that  the  world  wants  done. 

When  once  steam  was  put  to  work,  men  said,  “  Why 
not  make  it  run  a  boat  ?”  One  English  inventor  tried  to 
run  his  boat  by  making  the  engine  push  through  the  water 
a  thing  somewhat  like  a  duck’s  foot.  An  American  named 
Rumsey  moved  his  boat  by  forcing  a  stream  of  water 
through  it,  drawing  it  in  at  the  bow  and  pushing  it  out 
at  the  stern.  But  this  pump  boat  failed. 

Then  came  John  Fitch.  He  was  an  ingenious,  poor 
fellow,  who  had  knocked  about  in  the  world  making  but¬ 
tons  out  of  old  brass  kettles,  and  mending  guns.  He  had 
been  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution  and  a  captive  among  the 
Indians.  At  length  he  made  a  steamboat.  He  did  not 


142 


ROBERT  FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT. 


FITCH’S  STEAMBOAT. 


imitate  the  duck’s  foot  or  the  steam  pump,  but,  like  most 
other  inventors,  he  borrowed  from  what  had  been  used. 

He  made  his  engine  drive 
a  number  of  oars,  so 
as  to  paddle  the  boat 
forward.  His  boat  was 
tried  on  the  Delaware 
River  in  1787.  The 
engine  was  feeble,  and 
the  boat  ran  but  slow¬ 
ly.  Fitch  grew  extremely  poor  and  ragged,  but  he  used 
to  say  that,  when  “  Johnny  Fitch  ”  should  be  forgotten, 
steamboats  would  run  up  the  rivers  and  across  the  sea. 
This  made  the  people  laugh,  for  they  thought  him  what 
we  call  “  a  crank.” 

Robert  Fulton  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1765.  He 
was  the  son  of  an  Irish  tailor.  He  was  not  fond  of  books, 
but  he  was  ingenious.  He  made  pencils  for  his  own  use 
out  of  lead,  and  he  made  rockets  for  his  own  Fourth  of 
July  celebration. 

With  some  other  boys  he 
used  to  go  fishing 


in  an  old  flat- 
boat.  But  he  got 
tired  of  pushing 
the  thing  along 
with  poles,  so  he 
contrived  some  pad¬ 
dle  wheels  to  turn  with 


FULTON’S  FIRST  INVENTION. 


ROBERT  FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT. 


143 


cranks,  something  like  those  in  the  picture.  He  was  four¬ 
teen  years  old  when  he  made  this  invention. 

At  seventeen  he  became  a  miniature  painter  in  Phila¬ 
delphia,  and  by  the  time  he  was  twenty-one  he  had  earned 
money  enough  to  buy  a  little  farm  for  his  mother.  He 
then  went  to  Europe  to  study  art. 

But  his  mind  turned  to  mechanical  inventions,  of  which 
he  now  made  several.  Among  other  things,  he  contrived 
a  little  boat  to  run  under  water  and  blow  up  war  vessels; 
but,  though  he  could  supply  this  boat  with  air,  he  could 
not  get  it  to  run  swiftly. 

He  now  formed  a  partnership  with  Chancellor  Living¬ 
ston,  the  American  Minister  to  France,  who  was  very  much 
interested  in  steamboats.  Fulton  had  two  plans.  One  was 
to  use  paddles  in  a  new  way;  the  other  was  to  use  the 
paddle  wheel,  such  as  he  had  made  when  he  was  a  boy. 
He  found  the  wheels  better  than  paddles. 

He  built  his  first  steamboat  on  the  River  Seine,  near 
Paris,  but  the  boat  broke  in  two  from  the  weight  of  her 
machinery.  His  next  boat  made  a  trial  trip  in  sight  of  a 
great  crowd  of  Parisians.  She  ran  slowly,  but  Fulton  felt 
sure  that  he  knew  just  what  was  needed  to  make  the  next 
one  run  faster. 

Fulton  and  Livingston  both  returned  to  America.  Ful¬ 
ton  ordered  from  James  Watt  a  new  engine,  to  be  made 
according  to  his  own  plans.  In  August,  1807,  Fulton’s 
new  boat,  the  Clermont,  was  finished  at  New  York.  Peo¬ 
ple  felt  no  more  confidence  in  it  than  we  do  now  in  a 
flying  machine.  They  called  it  “  Fulton’s  Folly.”  How- 


144 


ROBERT  FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT. 


ever,  a  great  many  people  gathered  to  see  the  trial  trip 
and  laugh  at  Fulton  and  his  failure.  The  crowd  was 
struck  with  wonder  at  seeing  the  black  smoke  rushing 
from  the  pipes,  and  the  revolving  paddle  wheels,  which 
were  uncovered,  as  you  see  in  the  picture,  throwing  spray 

into  the  air,  while  the  boat 
moved  without  spreading 
her  sails.  At  last  a 
steamboat  had  been 
made  that  would  run 
at  a  fair  rate  of  speed. 

The  Clermont  began 
to  make  regular  trips 
from  New  York  to  Al- 

FULTON’S  FIRST  STEAMBOAT. 

bany.  When  the  men 
on  the  river  sloops  first  saw  this  creature  of  fire  and 
smoke  coming  near  them  in  the  night,  and  heard  the  puff 
of  her  steam,  the  clank  of  her  machinery,  and  the  splash 
of  her  wheels,  they  were  frightened.  Some  of  the  sailors 
ran  below  to  escape  the  monster,  some  fell  on  their  knees 
and  prayed,  while  others  hurried  ashore. 

While  Fulton  was  inventing  and  building  steamboats, 
people  became  very  much  interested  in  machinery.  A  man 
named  Redheffer  pretended  to  have  invented  a  perpetual- 
motion  machine,  which,  once  started,  would  go  of  itself. 
People  paid  a  dollar  apiece  to  see  the  wonder,  and  learned 
men  who  saw  it  could  not  account  for  its  motion.  Fulton 
was  aware  that  it  must  be  a  humbug,  because  he  knew 
that  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  a  machine  that 


ROBERT  FULTON  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT. 


145 


would  run  of  itself.  But  his  friends  coaxed  him  to  go  to 
see  it.  When  Fulton  had  listened  to  it  awhile  he  found 
that  it  ran  in  an  irregular  way,  faster  and  then  slower, 
and  then  faster  and  slower  again. 

“  This  is  a  crank  motion/ ’  he  said.  “  If  you  people  will 
help  me,  I’ll  show  you  the  cheat.” 

The  crowd  agreed  to  help.  Fulton  knocked  down  some 
little  strips  of  wood,  and  found  a  string  running  through 
one  of  them  from  the  machine  to  the  wall ;  he  followed 
this  through  the  upper  floor  until  he  came  to  a  back  gar¬ 
ret.  In  this  sat  a  wretched  old  man,  who  wore  an  im¬ 
mense  beard,  and  appeared  to  have  been  long  imprisoned. 
He  was  gnawing  a  crust  of  bread,  and  turning  a  crank 
which  was  connected  with  the  machinery  by  the  string. 
When  the  crowd  got  back  to  the  machine  room  Redheffer 
had  run  away. 

Fulton  died  in  1815.  Before  his  death  many  steamboats 
were  in  use.  Some  years  after  his  death  steam  was  applied 
to  railways,  and  a  little  later  steamers  were  built  to  cross 
the  ocean. 

In-vent'-or,  one  who  invents  or  contrives  something  not  before 
known.  In-gen'-ious,  inventive;  good  at  contriving  new  ways  of 
doing  things.  Be-low',  on  a  vessel,  this  word  means  downstairs. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  about — 

James  Watt  and  the  steam  engine. 

Early  attempts  to  build  steamboats. 

Fulton’s  early  life. 

How  Fulton  invented  the  steamboat. 

The  first  steamboat  on  the  Hudson. 

Fulton  and  the  perpetual  motion. 


146 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


XXV. 

William  Henry  Harrison. 

One  of  the  members  of  Congress  who  signed  the  Dec¬ 
laration  of  Independence  in  1776  was  Benjamin  Harrison, 
a  stout  and  jolly  man.  When  Congress  chose  John  Han¬ 
cock  for  its  President,  or  chairman,  Hancock  made  a  mod¬ 
est  speech,  as  though  he  would  decline  the  place.  But 
Benjamin  Harrison  just  took  him  up  in  his  arms  and  set 
him  down  in  the  chair. 

The  third  son  of  this  Benjamin  Harrison  was  William 
Henry  Harrison.  He  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1773.  His 
father  died  when  he  was  young.  Young  Harrison  began 
the  study  of  medicine,  but  there  was  a  war  with  the  In¬ 
dians  in  the  West,  and  he  wanted  to  go  to  the  war.  His 
guardian  wished  him  to  stick  to  his  study  of  medicine ; 
but  there  was  more  soldier  than  doctor  in  Harrison,  and 
President  Washington,  who  had  been  his  father’s  friend, 
made  the  young  man  an  officer  in  the  army  when  he  was 
but  nineteen  years  old. 

When  Harrison  got  to  the  western  country  the  army, 
under  the  lead  of  General  St.  Clair,  had  been  surprised  by 
the  Indians  and  defeated.  Washington  appointed  General 
Wayne  to  take  St.  Clair’s  place,  and  Wayne  gave  Harrison 
a  place  on  his  staff.  Wayne  trained  his  men  carefully,  and 
practiced  them  in  shooting,  and  when  he  marched  it  was 
with  every  care  not  to  be  surprised.  The  Indians  called 
Wayne  “  the  Chief  who  never  Sleeps.”  He  fought  a  battle 
with  the  Indians  on  the  Maumee  River,  in  Ohio,  and  he 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


147 


pushed  them  so  hotly  with  bayonets  and  guns  fired  at  short 
range  that  the  Indians  fled  in  every  direction.  They  were 
so  thoroughly  beaten  that  they  made  peace  with  the  white 
people,  and  the  Western  settlers  had  rest  from  war  for  a 
while. 

In  1801  a  new  Territory,  called  Indiana,  was  formed. 
It  took  in  all  the  country  which  now  lies  in  Indiana,  Illi¬ 
nois,  and  Wisconsin,  and  it  had  but  few  white  people  in  it. 
Harrison  was  made  governor  of  this  large  region. 

There  was  a  young  Shawnee  warrior,  Tecumseh  [te- 
cum'-seh],  who  had  fought  against  Wayne  in  1794.  He 
was  much  opposed  to  the  Indians’  selling  their  lands. 
He  declared  that  no  tribe  had  a  right  to  sell  land 
without  the  consent  of  the  other  tribes.  There  were  at 
that  time  seventeen  States,  and  the  Indians  called  the 
United  States  the  “  Seventeen  Fires.”  Tecumseh  got  the 
notion  of  forming  all  the  Indian  tribes  into  a  confeder¬ 
acy  like  the  “  Seventeen  Fires,”  or  States,  of  the  white 
men. 

Tecumseh  was  not  born  a  chief,  but  he  had  gathered 
a  great  band  of  followers,  and  had  thus  become  a  pow¬ 
erful  leader.  He  made  long  journeys  to  the  North  and 
West,  and  then  traveled  away  to  the  South  to  bring  the 
Indians  into  his  plan  for  a  great  war  that  should  drive 
the  white  people  back  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 
In  one  council  at  the  South  the  Indians  refused  to  join 
him.  Tecumseh  told  them  that,  when  he  got  to  De¬ 
troit,  he  would  stamp  on  the  ground  and  make  the 
houses  in  their  village  fall  down.  It  happened  soon  after 


148 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


that  an  earthquake  did  destroy  some  of  their  houses,  and 
the  frightened  Indians  said,  ”  Tecumseh  has  arrived  at  De¬ 
troit.”  They  immediately  got  ready  to  help  him  against 
the  white  people. 

Tecumseh  had  a  brother  who  pretended  to  be  a  prophet, 
and  who  was  called  “  The  Open  Door.”  He  gathered 
many  Indians  about  him  at  Tippecanoe,  in  Indiana,  and  he 
preached  a  war  against  the  white  people. 

Governor  Harrison  held  a  council  with  Tecumseh  at 
Vincennes.  Seats  wTere  placed  for  the  chief  on  the  piazza 
of  the  governor’s  house,  but  Tecumseh  insisted  on  holding 

the  council  in  a 
grove.  He  said 
that  the  white 
people  might 
bring  out  some 
chairs  for  them¬ 
selves,  but  that 
the  earth  was  the 
Indians’  mother, 
and  they  would  j 
rest  on  her 
bosom. 

In  the  discus¬ 
sions  Tecumseh 
grew  very  angry,  and  his  warriors  seized  their  tomahawks 
and  sprang  to  their  feet.  Harrison  drew  his  sword,  a 
white  man  near  him  showed  a  dirk,  and  a  friendly  Indian 
cocked  his  pistol  to  defend  the  governor,  while  a  Method- 


HARRISON’S  COUNCIL 
WITH  TECUMSEH, 
AT  VINCENNES. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


I49 


ist  minister  ran  with  a  gun  to  protect  Harrison’s  family. 
Others  present  armed  themselves  with  clubs  and  brick¬ 
bats.  The  soldiers  now  came  running  up  to  fire  on  the 
Indians;  but  Harrison  stopped  them,  and  told  Tecumseh 
that  he  was  a  bad  man,  and  that  he  could  now  go. 

Tecumseh  cooled  down  and  had  another  talk  with  the 
governor  the  next  day,  and  Harrison  even  went  to  the 
chief’s  tent  with  only  one  companion. 

But  General  Harrison  soon  saw  that,  in  spite  of  all  he 
could  do,  war  would  come.  Tecumseh  went  South  to  stir 
up  the  Southern  tribes.  He  gave  these  far-away  Indians 
bundles  of  sticks  painted  red.  He  told  them 
to'  throw  away  one  stick  every  day,  and, 
when  all  were  gone,  they  were  to  fall 
upon  the  white  people. 

But  General  Harrison  thought,  if 
there  had  to  be  war,  he  would  rather 
fix  the  time  for  it  himself;  so,  while 
Tecumseh  was  leaving  his  almanac  of  red  sticks  in  the 
South,  the  general  marched  from  Vincennes  [vin-senz'],  up 
the  Wabash  [waw'-bash]  to  Tippecanoe  [tip'-pe-ka-noo'], 
which  was  Tecumseh’s  home.  Knowing  that  the  Indians 
would  try  to  surprise  him,  he  fooled  them  into  believing 
that  he  was  going  up  on  one  side  of  the  river,  and  then 
crossed  to  the  other.  He  got  nearly  to  Tippecanoe  in 
safety,  but  the  prophet  sent  messengers  to  him,  pretending 
that  the  Indians  would  make  peace  the  next  day. 

Harrison’s  men  lay  on  their  arms  that  night.  About 
four  o’clock  on  the  morning  of  November  7,  1811,  the 


i5o 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


general  was  pulling  on.  his  boots,  intending  to  awaken  the 
army,  when  a  sentinel  fired  at  a  skulking  Indian,  and  the 
war  whoop  sounded  from  the  tall  grass  on  every  side. 

The  white  men  put  out  their  camp 
fires,  so  that  the  Indians  could 

ot  see  to  shoot  at  them,  and 
the  fierce  battle  raged 
in  the  darkness.  The 
signals  to  charge  and 
to  fall  back  were  given 
to  the  Indians 
by  the  rattle 
of  deers’  hoofs. 
The  prophet  sung 
a  wild  war  song  'on 
a  neighboring  hill, 
after  promising  his  fol¬ 
lowers  that  bullets 
should  not  hurt  them. 
But  many  an  Indian  and 
many  a  white  man  fell  in  that  bloody  struggle.  When 
daylight  came,  Harrison’s  men  made  a  charge  which  drove 
away  the  savages. 

Harrison  burned  the  village  of  Tippecanoe,  and  Tecum- 
seh  came  back  to  find  his  plan  for  driving  the  white  men 
over  the  mountains  spoiled.  But  the  war  with  England 

broke  out  soon  after  this,  and  Tecumseh  entered  the  Brit¬ 
ish  army,  and  was  made  a  brigadier  general. 

General  Harrison  was  now  once  more  opposed  to  Te- 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


151 

cumseh,  for  he  was  put  in  command  of  the  United  States 
army  in  the  West.  In  1813  he  was  besieged  in  Fort  Meigs 
[megs]  by  an  English  army  under  General  Proctor  and  a 
body  of  Indians  under  Tecumseh. 

While  the  English  were  building  their  batteries  to  fire 
into  the  fort,  the  Americans  were  very  busy  also,  but  they 
kept  a  row  of  tents  standing  to  hide  what  they  were  doing. 
When  the  English  guns  were  ready,  the  Americans  took 
down  their  tents  and  showed  a  great  earthwork  that  would 
shelter  them  from  the  batteries.  This  made  Tecumseh 
angry.  He  said  that  General  Harrison  was  like  a  ground 
hog — he  stayed  in  his  hole,  and  would  not  come  out  and 
fight  like  a  man. 

Proctor,  though  belonging  to  a  civilized  nation,  was  a 
heartless  brute.  Tecumseh  was  born  a  savage,  but  he  was 
always  opposed  to  cruelty.  Some  of  Harrison’s  men  had 
been  captured,  and  Proctor  allowed  the  Indians  to  put 
them  to  death.  When  Tecumseh  saw  what  was  going  on, 
he  rushed  in  between  the  Indians  and  their  prisoners  with 
his  tomahawk  in  hand,  and  stopped  the  slaughter. 

“Why  did  you  allow  this?’’  he  demanded  of  General 
Proctor. 

“  I  could  not  control  the  Indians,’’  said  Proctor. 

“  Go  home  and  put  on  petticoats,’’  said  Tecumseh. 

The  English  fleet  on  Lake  Erie  was  beaten  in  a  fight 
with  the  American  ships  under  Commodore.  Perry  in  the 
fall  of  1813.  Harrison  now  crossed  into  Canada,  and  the 
British  army  retreated  to  the  river  Thames  [temz],  where 
Harrison  overtook  it,  and  a  battle  followed.  Proctor  was 


152 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


afraid  to  fall 
into  the  hands 
of  the  Amer¬ 
icans,  who 
hated  him  for 
his  cruelties  to 
prisoners  and 
the  wounded. 
He  ran  away 
before  the  bat¬ 
tle  was  over. 
Brave  Tecum- 
seh  was  killed 
in  this  fight. 

Harrison  left  the  army  soon  after  this.  In  1840  he  was 
living  in  a  simple  way  on  his  farm  at  North  Bend,  in  Ohio, 
when  he  was  nominated  for  President  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  elected,  but  he  died  on  the  4th  of  April,  1841,  one 
month  after  taking  office. 

Guardian  [gard'-i-an],  one  appointed  to  care  for  the  interests  of  a 
person  who  is  under  age.  Con-fed'-er-a-ey,  persons,  states,  or  tribes, 
who  agree  to  act  together.  Proph.'-et,  one  who  speaks  by  command 
of  God.  Skulk'-ing,  sneaking ;  moving  so  as  to  avoid  being  seen. 
Senf-ti-nel,  a  soldier  set  to  watch.  Brig-a-dier'  gen'-er-al,  an 
officer  of  a  lower  rank  than  major  general ;  one  who  properly  commands  a 
brigade  of  several  regiments.  Besieged  [be-seejd'],  shut  up  in  a  place 
by  an  enemy.  Nom'-i-na-ted,  put  forward  as  a  candidate. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  what  it  was  that  made  Harrison  famous. 

Tell  how  he  came  to  destroy  the  Indian  town  at  Tippecanoe. 

Tell  about  the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs. 

Tell  about  the  battle  of  the  Thames. 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


153 


XXVI. 

Andrew  Jackson. 

General  Andrew  Jackson’s  father  was  also  named 
Andrew  Jackson.  He  was  an  Irishman,  who  came  to  the 
Waxhaw  settlement,  on  the  line  between  North  and  South 
Carolina,  about  ten  years  before  the  Revolution.  He  had 
built  a  log  cabin,  cleared  a  little  land,  and  raised  a  crop  of 
corn,  when  he  sickened  and  died.  In  this  sad  time  his  son, 
Andrew  Jackson,  was  born.  Andrew’s  mother  lived  with 
her  relatives,  and  spun  flax  to  earn  a  little  money. 

From  a  little  fellow  “Andy”  was  a  hot-tempered  boy. 
Some  larger  boys  once  loaded  a  gun  very  heavily,  and 
gave  it  to  Andy  to  fire,  in  order  to  see  him  knocked  over 
by  the  “kick”  of  the  gun.  But  the  fierce  little  fellow 
had  no  sooner  tumbled  over,  than  he  got  up  and  vowed 
that  he  would  kill  the  first  one  that  laughed,  and  not  one 
of  the  boys  dared  to  provoke  him. 

He  grew  up  in  a  wild  country  and 
among  rough  people.  What  little 
schooling  he  got  was  at  an  old-field 
schoolhouse. 

When  he  was  but  thirteen  the 
Revolutionary  War  began.  In  the 
South  the  struggle  was  very  bitter, 
neighbor  battling  against  neighbor 
with  any  weapons  that  could  be 
found.  Of  course,  a  fiery  fellow  like 
Andrew  wanted  to  have  a  hand  in 

MAKES  HIS  OWN  WEAPONS. 


154 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


the  fight  against  England.  Whenever  he  went  to  a  black¬ 
smith’s  shop  he  hammered  out  some  new  weapon.  Young 
as  he  was,  he  was  in  two  or  three  skirmishes.  In  one  of 
these,  Andrew  and  his  brother  were  taken  prisoners.  A 

British  officer  ordered  Andrew 
to  clean  the  mud  off  his  boots. 
Young  Jackson  refused,  and  got  a 
sword  cut  on  his  head  for  it.  His 

brother  was  treated  in  the  same 

» 

way.  The  two  wounded  boys 
were  then  confined  in  a  for¬ 
lorn  prison  pen,  where  they 
took  the  smallpox.  Their 
mother  managed  to  get  them 
exchanged,  and  brought  the 
sick  boys  home. 

When  Andrew  Jackson 
was  eighteen  years  old  he 
went  to  the  village  of 
Salisbury  to  study  law.  At 
this  time  many  settlers  were 
crossing  the  mountains  into  the 
rich  lands  to  the  westward,  and 
young  Jackson  moved  to  the  newly  settled  country  of 
Tennessee.  Here,  in  the  fierce  disputes  of  a  new  coun- 

4 

try,  it  took  a  great  deal  of  courage  to  practice  law. 

Jackson  was  not  only  brave;  he  was  also  a  quick-tem¬ 
pered  man,  who  got  into  many  quarrels  during  his  life,  and 
sometimes  fought  duels.  The  rough  people  among  whom 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


155 


he  lived  were  afraid  of  him.  One  day  he  was  eating  at  a 
long  table  which  the  keeper  of  the  tavern  had  set  out  of 
doors  for  the  crowd  that  had  come  to  see  a  horse  race. 
A  fight  was  going  on  at  the  other  end  of  the  table ;  but 
fights  were  so  common  in  this  new  country  that  Jackson 
did  not  stop  eating  to  find  out  what  it  was  about.  Pres¬ 
ently  he  heard  that  a  friend  of  his,  one  Patten  Anderson, 
was  likely  to  be  killed.  Jackson  could  not  easily  get  to 
his  friend  for  the  crowd,  but  he  jumped  up  on  the  table 
and  ran  along  on  it,  putting  his  hand  into  his  pocket  as 
though  to  draw  a  pistol.  He  cried  out  at  the  same  time, 
“  I’m  coming,  Patten!”  and  he  opened  and  shut  the  to¬ 
bacco  box  in  his  pocket  with  a  sound  like  the  cocking  cf 
a  pistol.  The  crowd  was  so  afraid  of  him  that  they  scat¬ 
tered  at  once,  crying,  “  Don’t  fire!” 

Jackson  was  an  able  man,  and  an  honest  one  in  his  way. 
He  was  once  a  judge,  he  kept  a  store,  he  went  to  Con¬ 
gress,  and  then  to  the  United  States  Senate.  When  the 
”  War  of  1812 ’’with  England  broke  out  he  was  sent  as  a 
general  of  Tennessee  volunteers  to  defend  New  Orleans. 
When  he  had  waited  some  time  at  Natchez  he  was  or¬ 
dered  to  disband  his  troops,  as  they  were  not  needed. 
Those  who  sent  such  an  order  from  Washington  did  not 
stop  to  ask  how  the  poor  Tennesseeans  were  to  make  their 
way  back  to  their  homes.  Jackson  refused  to  obey  the 
order,  pledged  his  own  property  to  get  food  for  his  men, 
and  marched  them  to  Tennessee  again.  The  men  became 
devoted  to  him,  and  gave  him  the  nickname  of  “  Old 
Hickory.  ” 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


156 

But  after  a  while  war  broke  out  in  the  Southwest  in 
earnest.  Tecumseh,  in  his  Southern  trip,  had  persuaded  a 
half-breed  chief,  who  was  known  to  the  whites  as  Weath- 

ersford  and  to  the  Indians  as  Red 
Eagle,  to  “  take  up  the  hatchet  ** 
and  go  to  war.  The  Indians  at¬ 
tacked  Fort  Mimms,  in  which  four 
hundred  men,  women,  and  children 
were  shut  up.  They  burned  the 
fort  and  killed  the  people  in  it. 
Weathersford  tried  to  stop  the 
massacre,  but  he  could  not  con¬ 
trol  his  savages. 

When  the  news  of  this  slaugh¬ 
ter  reached  Tennessee  Jackson 
was  very  ill  from  a  wound  in  the 
arm  and  a  ball  in  the  shoulder  which  he  got  in  a  foolish 
fight.  But  in  spite  of  his  wounds,  the  fiery  general  marched 
at  the  head  of  twenty-five  hundred  men  to  attack  the 
savages.  He  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  feed  his  troops 
in  the  wilderness;  the  men  suffered  from  hunger,  and  some¬ 
times  rebelled  and  resolved  to  go  home.  Jackson  once 
ordered  out  half  his  army  to  keep  the  other  half  from  leav¬ 
ing.  Again,  the  half  that  had  tried  to  desert  was  used  to 
make  the  others  stay.  At  another  time  he  stood  in  the  road 
in  front  of  his  rebellious  soldiers,  and  declared  in  the  most 
dreadful  words  that  he  would  shoot  the  first  villain  who 
took  a  step. 

In  spite  of  all  these  troubles  with  his  wild  soldiers,  Jack- 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


157 


son  beat  the  enemy  by  rapid  marches  and  bold  attacks. 
In  1814  the  savages  had  fortified  themselves  at  a  place 
called  Horseshoe  Bend.  Here  Jackson  had  q 
a  terrible  battle 
with  the  Indians, 
who  fought  until 
they  were  almost 
all  dead.  At  length 
most  of  the  sav¬ 
ages  submitted,  or 
fled  into  Florida, 
which  at  that  time 
belonged  to  Spain. 

The  white  men 
had  vowed  to  kill 
Weathersford,  the 
chief  ;  but  that 
fearless  fellow  rode 
up  to  Jackson’s 
tent,  and  said  that 
he  wanted  the 
general  to  send  : 
for  the  Indian 
women  and  children,  who  were  starving  in  the  woods. 
When  the  white  soldiers  saw  Weathersford,  they  cried 
out,  ‘ :  Kill  him!”  But  Jackson  told  them  that  anybody 
who  would  kill  so  brave  a  man  would  rob  the  dead. 

Jackson  was  suffering  all  this  time  from  a  painful  illness, 
and  was  hardly  able  to  sit  in  the  saddle.  But  he  marched 


•/■ I 

WEATHERSFORD 

SURRENDERS  TO  GENERAL  JACKSON. 


i58 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


BRITISH  LAN  Dirt G 


to  Mobile,  which  he  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  defending  against 
an  English  force  that  had 
landed  in  Florida,  and  had 
been  joined  by  Florida 
Indians.  Jackson  resolved 
that  the  Spaniards  should 
not  give  any  further  aid  to  the  enemies  of  the  United 
States.  He  therefore  marched  his  army  into  Florida  and 
took  the  Spanish  town  of  Pensacola,  driving  the  English 
away. 

It  soon  became  necessary  for  him  to  go  to  New  Or¬ 
leans  to  defend  that  place.  The  English  landed  twelve 
thousand  fine  men  below  that  city.  Jackson  armed  the  free 
negroes  and  the  prisoners  out  of  the  jails,  but,  after  all,  he 
had  only  half  as  many  soldiers  as  the  English.  The  general, 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


159 


though  yellow  with  illness,  was  as  resolute  as  ever.  He  had 
several  fights  with  the  English  as  they  advanced,  but  the 
decisive  battle  was  fought  on  the  8th  of  January,  1815,  when 
the  English  tried  to  carry  the  American  works  by  storm. 

Jackson’s  Southwestern  troops  were  many 

/ 

of  them  dead  shots.  They  mowed  down 
the  ranks  of  the  British  whenever 
charged,  until  more  than  one  fifth 
the  English  troops  had  been  killed 
or  wounded  and  their  general 
was  also  dead.  Though  the 
English  had  lost  twenty-six 
hundred  brave  men,  the  Amer¬ 
icans  had  but  eight  killed  and 
thirteen  wounded. 

One  little  English  bugler, 
fourteen  years  old,  had  climbed 
into  a  tree  near  the  American  • 
works  and  blown  his  bugle 
charge,  to  cheer  the  English, 
till  there  were  none  left  to 
blow  for.  An  American  soldier 
then  brought  him  into  camp, 
where  the  men  made  much  of  their 
young  prisoner,  because  he  was  so  brave. 

This  wonderful  defense  of  New  Orleans  ended  the 
War  of  1812.”  General  Jackson  became  the  darling  of 
his  country.  When  the  United  States  bought  Florida  from 
Spain,  he  was  sent  to  take  possession  of  that  country. 


i6o 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


In  1828  Jackson  was  elected  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  a  man  of  the  plain  people,  rough  in  speech 
and  stern  in  manner,  but  his  popularity  was  very  great. 
He  was  the  first  President  who  put  out  of  office  those  who 
had  voted  against  him,  and  appointed  his  own  friends  to 
their  places.  He  enforced  the  laws  with  a  strong  hand, 
and  he  managed  affairs  with  other  nations  in  such  a  way 
as  to  make  the  country  respected  in  Europe. 

General  Jackson  died  in  1845.  He  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  man  of  strong  will  and  fierce  passions.  But  he  was 
faithful  to  his  friends,  affectionate  with  his  relatives,  and 
exceedingly  kind  to  his  slaves.  He  had  no  children,  but 
he  adopted  a  nephew  of  his  wife  and  brought  him  up  as 
his  son.  He  also  adopted  an  Indian  baby,  found  after  one 
of  his  battles  in  its  dead  mother’s  arms.  His  splendid  de¬ 
fense  of  New  Orleans  showed  Jackson  to  be  one  of  the 
very  ablest  generals  America  has  ever  produced. 

Weapon  [wep'-un],  something  to  fight  with.  Skir'-mish,  a  small 
battle.  Du '-el,  a  fight  between  two  men  with  weapons.  To  draw  a 
pistol,  is  to  take  it  from  the  pocket  or  belt  to  fire.  Vol-un-teers', 
men  not  regular  soldiers  who  enlist  in  an  army  during  a  war.  Dis-band', 
to  dismiss  a  company  of  soldiers.  “Old  Hickory”  ;  this  name  was 
given  to  Jackson,  who  shared  all  the  hardships  of  his  men,  because  the 
hickory  tree  is  rough  outside,  and  has  a  very  tough  wood.  Half'-breed, 
a  person  one  of  whose  parents  is  of  the  white  race,  and  the  other  Indian. 
“Take  up  the  hatchet,”  an  Indian  phrase  meaning  to  go  to  war. 
Massacre  [mas'-sa-ker],  the  putting  to  death  of  people  who  have  no  means 
of  defending  themselves.  Spaniards  [span'-yerds],  the  people  of  Spain. 
Resolute  [rez'-o-lute],  determined.  Decisive  [de-si'-siv],  that  which 
decides  or  settles  a  matter.  Dead  shot,  one  whose  aim  in  shooting  is 
perfect.  Bugle  charge,  notes  played  on  a  bugle  as  a  signal  for  soldiers 
to  charge.  Popularity  [pop-yu-lar'-i-ty],  favor  with  the  people. 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


161 


Tell  in  your  own  words  about  the  boyhood  of  General  Jackson. 

What  part  did  he  take  in  the  Revolution  ? 

Tell  about  his  war  against  the  Indians  under  Red  Eagle,  or  Weathers- 
ford. 

Which  do  you  think  was  Jackson’s  most  famous  battle? 

Tell  about  the  defense  of  New  Orleans. 

What  kind  of  a  President  was  Jackson  ? 

What  kind  of  a  man  was  he  ? 

What  kind  of  a  general  ? 


XXVII. 

Morse  and  the  Telegraph. 

BEFORE  the  railroad  and  the  telegraph  were  invented 
it  took  weeks  for  news  to  go  from  one  part  of  this  country 
to  another.  The  mails  were  carried  by  a  lad  on  horseback  - 
or  by  a  stagecoach  drawn  by  horses.  The  railroad  was 
invented  in  England  and  introduced  into  this  country  about 
1830.  The  locomotive  carried  news  much  more  quickly 
than  horses’  feet  could  travel.  But  now  we  know  to-day 
what  happened  yesterday  on  the  other  side  of  the  world, 
and  we  wonder  how  people  ever  got  on  without  the 
electric  telegraph. 

Samuel  Finley  Breeze  Morse,  who  invented  the  electric 
telegraph,  or  that  form  of  it  that  came  into  general  use, 
was  born  in  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  in  1791.  When 
he  was  four  years  old  he  was  sent  to  school  to  an  old 
lady,  who  was  lame  and  not  able  to  leave  her  chair.  She 
managed  her  scholars  with  a  very  long  rattan  stick.  This 
was  her  telegraph,  we  might  say,  but  the  children  did  not 
always  like  the  messages  she  sent  upon  it.  Morse  showed 


MORSE  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH. 


162 

his  talent  as  an  artist  by  scratching  a  picture  of  the  old 
lady  on  a  piece  of  furniture,  but  he  did  not  like  the  mes¬ 
sage  she  sent  him  on  her  rattan  telegraph. 

When  Samuel  Morse  went  to  Yale  College  he  took 
great  interest  in  the  experiments  in  electricity  which  he 
saw  there.  But  the  chief  question  with  him  at  this  time 
was  how  to  get  a  living.  He  had  a  talent  for  making 
pictures,  and  he  took  to  painting  miniatures  of  people  for 
five  dollars  apiece;  he  also  made  profiles  at  a  dollar  apiece. 
As  there  were  no  photographs  then,  people  who  wanted 
small  pictures  of  themselves  had  to  have  them  painted. 
This  was  usually  done  on  ivory. 

We  have  seen  that  Fulton,  the  maker  of  steamboats,  was 
a  painter.  Morse  became  a  painter,  and  went  to  England 
to  study,  where  he  attracted  attention  by  his  good  work. 
After  four  years  in  Europe  he  came  to  America  again,  as 
poor  as  ever.  His  clothes  were  threadbare,  and  his  shoes' 
were  ragged  at  the  toes.  “  My  stockings,”  he  said,  “  want 
to  see  my  mother.”  He  brought  with  him  a  large  picture, 
which  everybody  admired,  but  nobody  bought  it. 

He  was  already  thinking  about  inventions.  He  and  his 
brother  invented  a  pump,  which  his  brother  jokingly  named 
Morse’s  Patent  Metallic,  Double-headed,  Ocean-drinker 
and  Deluge-spouter  Valve  Pump  Box.”  But  the  pump,  for 
all  this,  was  not  a  success,  and  Morse  traveled  from  town 
to  town  painting  portraits  for  a  living. 

Morse  went  to  Europe  again,  and  in  1832  he  sailed  for 
America  once  more.  He  was  now  about  forty-one  years 
old.  One  evening,  in  the  cabin  of  the  ship,  the  talk  turned 


MORSE  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH.  163 

on  electricity.  A  Dr.  Jackson,  who  was  one  of  the  pas¬ 
sengers,  told  of  an  interesting  experiment  which  he  had 
seen  in  Paris.  Electricity  had  been  sent  instantaneously 
through  a  great  length  of  wire  arranged  in  circles  around 
a  large  room. 

“  Then,”  said  Morse,  “  I  don’t  see  why  messages  can 
not  be  sent  a  long  distance  instantaneously  by  means  of 
electricity.  ” 

When  the  conversation  was  over  the  rest  forgot  all 
about  it.  But  Morse  began  to  plan  a  telegraph,  making 
drawings  of  the  machine  in  his  sketch-book.  But  he  was 
much  too  poor  to  go  on  with  his  invention.  His  brothers 
gave  him  the  use  of  a  room  for  a  studio,  and  here  he  lived, 
and  made  experiments  on  a  rude  telegraph.  He  did  his 
own  cooking,  and  he  used  to  go  out  at  night  to  buy  food, 
for  fear  that  his  friends  should  discover  how  little  he  had 
to  eat. 

In  1835  Morse  became  a  professor.  He  now  took  a 
Professor  Gale  into  partnership  in  the  telegraph.  But 
neither  of  them  had  money  enough  to  perfect  the  inven¬ 
tion.  While  they  were  one  day  exhibiting  their  rude  ma¬ 
chine  to  some  gentlemen,  a  student  named  Alfred  Vail 
happened  to  come  into  the  room.  Young  Vail  was  the  son 
of  Judge  Vail,  a  wealthy  mill  owner.  He  had  worked  for 
some  years  in  his  father’s  shops,  and  was  a  far  better 
mechanic  than  Professor  Morse  or  Professor  Gale. 

Vail’s  quick  eye  soon  comprehended  the  new  invention, 
which  was  being  tested  with  seventeen  hundred  feet  of 
wire  stretched  back  and  forth  across  the  room. 


164 


MORSE  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH. 


“  Do  you  intend  to  try  the  telegraph  on  a  large  scale  ?,v 
Vail  asked. 

I  do,  if  I  can  get  the  money  to  carry  out  my  plans/*' 
Professor  Morse  replied. 

Vail  then  proposed  to  get  money  for  Morse  if  the  pro¬ 
fessor  would  make  him  a  partner.  This  was  agreed  to,  and 
the  young  man  hurried  to  his  room,  locked  the  door,  threw 
himself  on  his  bed,  and  gave  himself  up  to  imagining  the 
future  of  the  telegraph.  He  took  up  his  atlas  and  traced 
out  the  great  lines  which  the  telegraph  would  take.  It  is 
probable  that  Professor  Morse  would  have  failed  if  it  had 
not  been  for  the  help  of  this  young  man. 

After  getting  some  further  explanations  from  Morse, 
Alfred  Vail  hurried  home  and  talked  to  his  father  about 
it,  until  the  judge  decided  to  furnish  the  two  thousand 
dollars  that  would  be  needed  to  make  a  perfect  telegraph. 
This  was  to  be  taken  to  Congress,  to  persuade  that  body 
to  supply  money  to  build  the  first  line. 

Besides  furnishing  money  for  the  machine,  the  Vails  got 
Morse  to  paint  some  portraits  for  them,  and  thus  supplied 
him  with  money  to  meet  his  most  pressing  wants.  Alfred 
now  had  a  room  fitted  up  in  one  of  his  father’s  workshops 
at  Speedwell,  in  New  Jersey.  He  kept  the  place'  carefully 
locked,  lest  the  secret  of  the  invention  should  be  discov¬ 
ered  by  others. 

A  boy  named  William  Baxter,  fifteen  years  old,  was 
taken  from  the  shop  to  help  Alfred  Vail.  For  many  months 
Alfred  and  Baxter  worked  together,  sometimes  day  and 
night.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  telegraph  wire  in  a 


MORSE  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH. 


165 


day  when  there  were  no  telegraphs.  But  the  ladies  of 
that  time  wore  a  kind  of  high  bonnet,  which  was  called  a 
“  sky-scraper,”  and  a  sort  of  wire  was  used  to  strengthen 
and  stiffen  the  fronts  of  such  bonnets,  which 
proved  to  be  the  best  to  be  had  for  the  pur-  M 
pose  of  the  new  telegraph  makers.  Vail  bought 
all  the  bonnet  wire  in  the  market. 

Vail  made  many  improvements  in 
Morse’s  machine.  He  also  made  the  instru¬ 
ment  write,  not  with  the  zigzag  marks  used 

v 

by  Professor  Morse,  but  in  dots  and  dashes 
for  letters,  as  you  will  see  in  the  alphabet 
given  on  this  page.  Morse  was  busy  get¬ 
ting  his  patent,  and  Professor  Gale  was 


engaged  in  making  the  batteries. 


A  “  SKY-SCRAPER.” 


F - 

O - 

A  -  — 

G - 

L 

R - 

w - 

B - 

If - 

M - 

S  --- 

X - 

C - 

I  -- 

N - 

T  — 

Y  --  -- 

D - 

J - 

0  -  - 

U - 

Z  ---  - 

E  - 

P . 

v - 

&  -  --- 

K - 

THE  TELEGRAPHIC  ALPHABET. 


Rat-tan',  the  long  slender  shoots  of  the  East  Indian  cane.  Min'-i- 
a-ture,  a  small  picture  ;  usually  a  small  portrait  on  ivory.  Profile 
[pro' -file],  a  side-view  of  a  face.  In-stan-ta'-ne-ous-ly,  immediately; 
at  once.  Sketch '-book,  a  book  in  which  an  artist  makes  hurried  draw¬ 
ings.  Com-pre-hend'-ed,  took  in;  understood.  Pat'-ent,  a  paper 
from  a  government  giving  an  inventor  the  right  to  prevent  other  people 
from  using  his  invention.  Bat'-ter-y,  that  part  of  the  telegraph  which 
produces  the  electricity. 


1 66 


MORSE  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH. 


Tell  in  your  own  words — 

About  Morse’s  early  life. 

How  he  came  to  think  of  inventing  a  telegraph. 

Tell  something  of  his  struggles  with  poverty. 

How  did  Vail  come  to  take  an  interest  in  the  invention? 
How  did  he  get  telegraphic  wire  ? 


XXVIII. 

How  the  Telegraph  became  successful. 

Morse  now  had  but  three  pupils.  One  of  his  pupils, 
when  his  quarter’s  tuition  was  due,  had  not  yet  received  his 
money  from  home,  so  that  he  could  not  pay  the  professor 
immediately.  One  day,  when  Morse  came  in,  he  said  : 

“  Well,  Strother,  my  boy,  how  are  we  off  for  money  ?” 

Professor,  I’m  sorry  to  say  I  have  been  disappointed, 
but  I  expect  the  money  next  week.” 

Next  week!”  exclaimed  Morse;  ”  I  shall  be  dead  by 
next  week.” 

Dead,  sir  ?  ” 

”  Yes,  dead  of  starvation.* 

‘‘  Would  ten  dollars  be  of  any  service  ?”  asked  Strother, 
in  alarm. 

”  Ten  dollars  would  save  my  life;  that  is  all  it  would 
do,”  answered  the  professor,  who  had  not  eaten  a  mouth¬ 
ful  for  twenty-four  hours.  The  money  was  paid. 

Judge  Vail  grew  discouraged  about  the  telegraph.  The 
old  gentleman  refused  to  look  at  the  machine.  Alfred  Vail 
saw  that  if  the  work  were  not  finished  soon  his  father 
would  put  a  stop  to  it.  He  and  young  Baxter  stayed 


HOW  THE  TELEGRAPH  BECAME  SUCCESSFUL.  1 67 


close  in  their  room,  with  Morse,  working  as  fast  as  they 
could,  and  avoiding  Judge  Vail,  lest  he  should  say  the 
words  that  would  end  their  project.  Baxter  would  watch 
the  windows,  and,  when  he  saw  Judge  Vail  go  to  din¬ 
ner,  he  would  tell  Morse  and  Alfred  Vail,  and  they  would 
all  go  to  dinner  at  the  house  of  Alfred’s  brother-in-law, 
making  sure  to  get  safe  back  before  the  judge  should 
appear  again. 

At  last  the  invention  was  in  working  order,  and  Alfred 
Vail  said  to  Baxter: 

“  William,  go  up  to  the  house  and  ask  father  to  come 
down  and  see  the  telegraph  machine  work.” 

The  boy  ran  eagerly,  in  his  shop  clothes  and  without 
any  coat,  and  Judge  Vail  followed  him  back  to  the  little 
room.  Mr.  Vail  wrote  on  a  slip  of  pa¬ 
per,  “  A  patient  waiter  is  no  loser.” 

He  handed  this  to  Alfred,  saying: 

If  you  can  send  that  so  that  instrument  for  sending  telegrams 
Professor  Morse  can  read  it  at  the 
other  end  of  the  wire,  I  shall  be  convinced.” 

Alfred  clicked  it  off,  and  Morse  read  it  at  his  end. 
The  old  gentleman  was  overjoyed. 

But  there  was  a  great  deal  of  trouble  after  this  in 
getting  the  matter  started.  It  was  thought  necessary  to 
have  the  government  build  the  first  line,  because  business 
men  were  slow  to  try  new  things  in  that  day.  The  Presi¬ 
dent,  and  other  public  men,  showed  much  curiosity  about 
the  new  machine,  but  Congress  was  slow  to  give  money 
to  construct  a  line. 


l68  HOW  THE  TELEGRAPH  BECAME  SUCCESSFUL. 


In  1842  a  bill  was  passed  in  the  House  of  Representa¬ 
tives  appropriating  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  construct  a 
telegraph  on  Morse’s  plan  from  Washington  to  Baltimore. 
It  had  yet  to  pass  the  Senate  before  it  could  become  a  law. 
When  the  last  hours  of  the  session  had  arrived,  a  senator 
told  Morse  that  his  bill  could  not  be  passed,  there  were  so 
many  other  bills  to  be  voted  on  before  it.  Morse  went  to 
his  hotel,  and  found  that,  after  paying  his  bill  and  buying 
his  ticket  to  New  York,  he  had  thirty-seven  cents  left. 

But  the  next  morning,  while  he  was  eating  his  break¬ 
fast  before  leaving  Washington,  Miss  Ellsworth,  the  daugh¬ 
ter  of  the  commissioner  of  patents,  brought  Morse  word 
that  his  bill  had  passed  the  night  before.  For  her  kind¬ 
ness  the  inventor  promised  her  that  she  should  send  the 
first  message  over  a  telegraph  line. 

Morse  tried  to  lay  his  wires  underground  in  pipes,  but 
it  was  found  that  naked  wires  laid  in  this  way  let  the  elec¬ 
tricity  escape  into  the  ground.  What  was  to  be  done  ? 
There  were  now  but  seven  thousand  dollars  left  of  the 
thirty  thousand.  To  change  their  plan  would  be  to  con¬ 
fess  that  those  who  were  building  the  telegraph  had  made 
a  mistake,  and  this  would  make  people  more  suspicious 
than  ever.  The  machine  for  digging  the  ditch  in  which  the 
wires  were  to  be  laid  was  run  against  a  stone  and  broken 
on  purpose  to  make  an  excuse  for  changing  the  plan. 

A  year  had  been  wasted,  when  it  was  decided  to  put 
the  wires  on  poles.  At  last,  in  1844,  the  wires  were 
strung,  and  Miss  Ellsworth  sent  the  first  message,  which 
was,  “What  hath  God  wrought!”  The  first  news  that 


HOW  THE  TELEGRAPH  BECAME  SUCCESSFUL. 


169 

went  over  the  wire  was  that  James  K.  Polk  had  been 
nominated  for  President. 

But  at  first  people  would  not  believe  that  messages  had 
come  over  the  wire.  They  waited  for  the  mails  to  bring 
the  same  news  before  they  could  believe  it.  One  man  asked 
how  large  a  bundle  could  be  sent  over  the  wires.  A  joking 
fellow  hung  a  pair  of  dirty  boots  on  the  wire,  and  gave  it 
out  that  they  had  got  muddy  from  traveling  so  fast.  A 
woman  who  saw  a  telegraph  pole  planted  in  front  of  her 
door  said  she  supposed  she  could  not  punish  her  children 
any  more  without  everybody  knowing  it.  She  thought  the 
wire  would  carry  news  of  its  own  accord.  At  first  few 
messages  were  sent.  The  operators  worked  for  nothing, 
and  slept  under  their  tables.  But  after  a  while  people  be¬ 
gan  to  use  the  wires,  which  were  gradually  extended  over 
the  country.  Another  kind  of  electric  telegraph  had  been 
tried  in  England,  but  Morse’s  plan  was  found  the  best. 

Before  Morse  put  up  his  first  line  he  had  tried  a  tele¬ 
graph  through  the  water.  To  keep  the  electricity  from 
escaping,  he  wound  the  wire  with  thread  soaked  in  pitch 
and  surrounded  it  with  rubber.  He  laid  this  wire  from 
Castle  Garden,  at  the  lower  end  of  New  York  city,  across 
to  Governor’s  Island,  in  the  harbor.  He  was  able  to  tele¬ 
graph  through  it,  but  before  he  could  exhibit  it  the  anchor 
of  a  vessel  drew  up  the  wire,  and  the  sailors  carried  off 
part  of  it. 

About  1850,  Cyrus  W.  Field,  of  New  York,  got  the 
notion  that  a  telegraph  could  be  laid  across  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  After  much  trouble  to  raise  the  money  needed, 


HOW  THE  TELEGRAPH  BECAME  SUCCESSFUL. 


170 


and  two  attempts  to  lay  a  telegraph  cable  across  the 
ocean,  the  first  cable  was  laid  successfully  in  1858.  The 
Queen  of  England  sent  a  message  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  President  Buchanan  sent  a  reply. 
Many  great  meetings  were  held  to  rejoice  over  this  union 
of  the  Old  World  with  the  New.  But  the  first  Atlantic 
telegraph  cable  worked  feebly  for  three  weeks,  and  then 
ceased  to  work  altogether. 

Mr.  Field  now  found  it  hard  work  to  get  people  to 
put  money  into  a  new  cable.  Seven  years  after  the  first 


onp  wp<?  laid,  the  Great  Eastern, 
largest  ship  afloat,  laid 


kP  twelve  hundred  miles  of 


fplA,  telegraph  cable  in  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  when 


the  cable 


broke.  The  next  year, 
in  1866,  the  end  of  this  ca¬ 
ble  was  found  and  brought 


THE  GREAT  EASTERN. 


up  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  It  was  spliced  to  a  new 
one,  which  was  laid  successfully. 

Morse  lived  to  old  age,  no  longer  pinched  for  money, 
and  honored  in  Europe  and  America  for  his  great  inven¬ 
tion.  He  died  in  1872,  when  nearly  eighty-one  years  old. 

The  latest  wonder  in  telegraphing  is  the  telephone, 
which  is  a  machine  by  which  the  actual  words  spoken  are 
carried  upon  a  wire  and  heard  at  the  other  end  of  the 
line.  The  invention  was  made  about  the  same  time,  in 
somewhat  different  forms,  by  several  different  men. 


HOW  THE  TELEGRAPH  BECAME  SUCCESSFUL. 


I/I 

House  of  Rep-re-sent/ -a-tives,  part  of  Congress ;  a  body  of  men 
elected  by  districts.  Sen'-ate,  the  other  part  of  Congress,  chosen  by  the 
States.  The  Senate  meets  at  one  end  of  the  capitol  and  the  House  of  Rep¬ 
resentatives  at  the  other.  A  bill  must  be  agreed  to  by  both,  in  order  to  be¬ 
come  a  law.  Ap-pro'-pri-ate,  to  set  apart  for  a  particular  purpose. 
Exhibit  [egz-ib '-it] ,  to  show. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  about — 

The  finishing  of  the  invention  in  Judge  Vail’s  shop. 

The  passing  of  the  bill  in  Congress. 

The  building  of  the  first  telegraph  line. 

The  sending  of  the  first  message. 

The  mistakes  which  people  made  regarding  the  telegraph. 

The  laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable. 

The  telephone. 

What  is  a  telegraph  used  for  ? 

What  do  you  know  about  how  it  is  worked  ? 


XXIX. 

Early  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Five  years  after  Daniel  Boone 
took  his  family  to  Kentucky 
there  came  over  the  mountains 
a  man  named  Abraham  Lincoln, 
bringing  his  wife  and  children. 

The  Lincolns  and  Boones  were 
friends.  They  were  much  the 
same  kind  of  people,  hunters 
and  pioneers,  always  seeking  a  new  and  wild  country  to 
live  in.  This  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  friend  of  Boone,  was 
grandfather  of  President  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  born 
in  a  log  cabin  in  Kentucky  in  1809. 


A  SCHOOLHOUSE  IN  THE  BACKWOODS. 


172 


EARLY  LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


When  little  Abe  Lincoln  was  seven  years  old,  his  father 
moved  from  Kentucky  to  southwestern  Indiana,  which  was 
then  a  wild  country.  Here  he  lived  in  a  house  of  the 
roughest  and  poorest  sort  known  to  backwoods  people.  It 
had  three  sides  closed  with  logs.  The  other  side  was  left 
entirely  open  to  the  weather.  There  was  no  chimney,  but 
the  fire  was  built  out  of  doors  in  front  of  the  open  side. 
There  was  no  floor.  Such  a  wretched  shelter  is  called  a 
“  half-faced  camp.”  It  is  not  so  good  as  some  Indian  wig¬ 
wams.  Of  course,  the  food  and  clothes  and  beds  of  a 
family  living  m  this  way  were  miserable. 


Poor  little  Abe  Lincoln  sometimes  attended  backwoods 
schools.  The  log  schoolhouses  in  Indiana  at  that  time 


YOUNG  LINCOLN  WRITING  LETTERS  FOR  THE  NEIGHBORS. 


had  large  open  fireplaces,  in  which  there  was  a  great 
blazing  fire  in  the  winter.  The  boys  of  the  school  had  to 


EARLY  LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


173 


chop  and  bring  in  the  wood  for  this  fire.  The  floor  of 
such  a  schoolhouse  was  of  rough  boards  hewn  out  with 
axes.  The  schoolmasters  were  generally  harsh  men,  who 
persuaded  their  pupils  to  study  by  means  of  long  beech 
switches,  such  as  they  were  accustomed  to  use  in  driving 
oxen.  These  schoolmasters  did  not  know  much  themselves, 
but  bright  little  Abe 
Lincoln  soon  learned 
to  write.  This  was 
very  handy  for  his 
father  andothermen 
in  the  neighborhood 
who  could  not  write, 
and  who  got  Abra¬ 
ham  to  write  their 
letters  for  them. 

Lincolncouldnot 
get  many  books  to 
read  in  a  community  so 
destitute  and  illiterate. 

He  could  not  have  wasted 
his  time  and  weakened  his 
mind,  as  so  many  boys  and 
girls  do  now,  by  reading  exciting 
stories,  for  he  did  not  have  them.  He  read  carefully  the 
books  that  he  had.  The  Bible,  TEsop’s  Fables,  Pilgrim’s 
Progress,  a  life  of  Washington,  and  a  life  of  Henry  Clay 
he  read  over  and  over  again,  for  he  could  get  no  other 


books.  Whenever  he  heard  any  subject  talked  about 


174 


EARLY  LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


that  he  did  not  understand,  he  would  go  off  alone  and 
think  it  out,  and  try  to  put  it  into  clear  words.  This 
habit  of  close  and  careful  thinking,  and  this  practice  in 
clothing  his  thoughts  in  words  that  exactly  fitted  them, 
was  the  best  education  in  the  world.  Many  boys  and  girls 
who  have  good  schools  and  good  books  never  learn  to 
think  for  themselves. 

When  one  is  poor,  a  little  money  means  a  great  deal. 
One  day  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  this  time  eighteen  years 
old,  rowed  two  men  with  their  baggage  from  the  shore 
out  to  a  steamboat  in  the  Ohio  River.  For  this  the  men 
dropped  two  silver  half-dollars  into  the  boat.  Abraham 
was  overjoyed.  To  think  that  a  poor  boy  could  earn  so 
much  money  in  so  short  a  time  made  the  whole  world 
seem  wider  and  fairer  before  him,  he  said. 

The  people  of  southern  Indiana  in  that  day  used  to 
send  what  they  raised  on  their  farms  to  New  Orleans. 


Tl - 1 — 3~d  their  corn,  hay, 

potatoes  on  large 


flatboats,  some¬ 
times  a  hundred 
feet  long.  These 


boats  were  floated 


on  the  current  of  the 
Ohio  River  to  where  that 


AN  OHIO  RIVER  FLATBOAT 


river  empties  into  the  Mississippi,  and  then  down  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi.  It  was  a  long  voyage,  and  the  boatmen  had  to  live 
on  their  boats  for  many  weeks.  They  rowed  the  boats  with 
long  sweeps,  or  oars,  which  required  two  and  sometimes 


EARLY  LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


1/5 


four  men  to  move  each  one  of  them.  Lincoln  was  much 
trusted,  and  when  he  was  nineteen  years  old  he  was  sent 
down  the  river  in  charge  of  one  of  these  boats.  This  gave 
him  his  first  knowledge  of  the  world. 

By  the  time  he  was  twenty-one  ' 
had  attained  the  height  of  six  feet 
four  inches.  His  father,  who  was 
always  poor,  once  more  sought  a 
newer  country  by  removing  to  Illi¬ 
nois.  Here  Abraham  helped  to 
build  a  log  cabin,  and  then  he  split 
the  rails  to  make  a  fence  arounc 
the  new  cornfield.  In  order  to  get 
clothes,  he  went  out  to  work  as  a  hired 
man  on  a  neighbor’s  farm.  The 
cloth  used  by  the  Western  people  .... 
at  that  time  was  woven  by  hand 
in  their  own  homes.  Lincoln 
had  to  split  four  hundred  rails  to 
pay  for  each  yard  of  the  home- 
spun  brown  jeans  that  went  to  make 
his  trousers.  Perhaps  he  was  sorry  to  be  so  tall  and  to 
need  so  much  cloth  for  a  pair  of  trousers. 

Lincoln  went  a  second  time  on  a  flatboat  to  New  Or¬ 
leans.  The  boat  was  loaded  with  live  hogs,  and  it  is  said 


RAIL  SPLITTING. 


that  Lincoln,  finding  that  the  hogs  could  not  be  driven, 
carried  them  on  board  the  boat  in  his  long  arms.  After 
he  came  back  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  country  store,  where 
he  employed  his  spare  time  in  reading.  Like  Franklin,  he 


176  EARLY  LIFE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

got  his  education  by  the  right  use  of  his  leisure  time.  In 
this  store  he  showed  that  careful  honesty  for  which  he 
was  always  remarkable.  Once,  when  by  mistake  he  had 
taken  a  “  fip  ” — that  is,  six  and  a  quarter  cents — more 
than  was  due  from  a  customer,  he  walked  several  miles 
the  same  night  to  return  the  money.  When  he  found 
that,  by  using  the  wrong  weight,  he  had  given  a  woman 
two  ounces  of  tea  less  than  she  ought  to  have  had,  he 
again  walked  a  long  distance  in  order  to  make  the  matter 
right. 

One  of  the  things  he  wanted  to  learn  was  English 
grammar,  in  order  to  speak  more  correctly;  but  gram¬ 
mars  were  hard  to  find  at  that  time.  ,  He  heard  of  a  man 
eight  miles  away  who  had  a  grammar,  so  he  walked  the 
eight  miles  and  borrowed  it.  Lincoln  got  a  lawyer  who 
sometimes  visited  the  store  to  explain  what  he  could  not 
understand  in  his  grammar. 

Home'-spun,  cloth  made  at  home.  Jeans  [jeens],  a  strong  home¬ 
made  woolen  cloth,  often  called  “  Kentucky  jeans.”  It  was  the  cloth  most 
used  for  men’s  garments  while  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  was 
new.  (The  word  jean  originally  meant  a  stout  cotton  cloth,  and  is  so  used 
in  Europe.)  Fip,  a  coin  no  longer  used.  It  was  worth  six  and  a  quarter 
cents,  and  had  been  called  “  fivepenny  bit,”  from  which  “  fip’ny  bit,”  and 
then  “fip.”  The  same  coin  was  called  a  “  sixpence  ”  in  New  York,  and 
by  other  names  elsewhere. 

Give  some  account  of — 

Abraham  Lincoln’s  childhood. 

His  education. 

His  work  at  farming  and  flatboating. 

His  honesty. 


LINCOLN  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 


1 77 


XXX. 

Lincoln  ?n  Public  Life, 

In  1832,  when  there  was  an  Indian  war  in  Illinois, 
known  as  the  Blackhawk  War,  Lincoln  volunteered  to 
fight  against  the  chief  Blackhawk  and  his  Indians.  Lin¬ 
coln  was  chosen  captain  of  the  company.  But  he  did  not 
happen  to  be  in  any  battle  during  the  war.  He  used  to 
say,  jokingly,  that  he  “  fought,  bled,  and  came  away.” 

When  “Captain”  Lincoln  got  home  from  the  Black- 
hawk  War,  he  bought  out  a  country  store  in  New  Salem, 
where  he  lived.  He  had  a  worthless  young  man  for  a 
partner,  and  Lincoln  himself  was  a  better  student  than 
merchant.  Many  bad  debts  were  made,  and,  after  a  while, 
as  Lincoln  expressed  it,  the  store  “  winked  out.”  This 
failure  left  him  in  debt.  For  six  years  afterwards  he  lived 
Very  savingly,  until  he  had  paid  every  cent  of  his  debts. 
After  he  ceased  to  keep  store  he  was  postmaster.  In  a 
country  post  office  he  could  borrow  and  read  his  neigh¬ 
bors’  papers  before  they  were  called  for.  He  used  to 
carry  letters  about  in  the  crown  of  his  hat,  and  distribute 
the  mail  in  that  way. 

Next  he  became  a  surveyor.  He  studied  surveying 
alone,  as  he  did  other  things.  His  strict  honesty  and  his 
charming  good-nature,  as  well  as  his  bright  speeches, 
amusing  stories,  and  witty  sayings,  made  him  a  favorite 
among  the  people.  In  1834  he  was  elected  to  the  Illi¬ 
nois  Legislature.  In  a  suit  of  homespun  he  walked  a  hun¬ 
dred  miles  to  attend  the  Legislature.  When  the  session 


178 


LINCOLN  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 


was  over  he  came  home  and  went  to  surveying  again. 
Whenever  he  had  a  little  money  he  applied  himself  to 
studying  law.  When  his  money  gave  out  he  took  up  his 

compass  and 
went  back  to 
surveying. 

In  1837 
he  went  to 
Sprin  g  field, 
and  began 
life  as  a 
lawyer.  The 
lawyers  of 
that  day  rode 
from  county 
to  county 
to  attend 
the  courts. 

Lincoln 
“  rode  the 
circuit,”  as  it 
was  called, 
with  the  others,  and  he 
was  soon  a  successful  lawyer. 
He  would  not  take  a  case  which  would  put  him  on  the 
unjust  side  of  a  quarrel.  Nor  would  he  take  pay  from 

people  whom  he  knew  to  be  poor,  so  he  did  not  become 
a  rich  man. 

Lincoln  was  always  remarkable  for  his  kindness  of 


LINCOLN  SURVEYING. 


LINCOLN  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 


179 


heart.  While  riding  along  the  road  one  day  he  saw  a 
pig  fast  in  a  mudhole.  As  he  had  on  a  new  suit  of 
clothes  he  did  not  like  to  touch  the  muddy  pig,  and  so 
he  rode  on,  leaving  piggy  to  get  out  if  he  could.  But 
he  could  not  get  the  pig  out  of  his  thoughts,  so,  when 
he  had  gone  two  miles,  he  turned  his  horse  back  and 
helped  the  floundering  pig  out  of  his  distress.  He  said 
he  did  this  to  “  take  a  pain  out  of  his  own  mind.” 

Once  a  poor  widow,  who  had  been  kind  to  him  many 
years  before,  asked  him  to  defend  her  son,  who  was  on 
trial  for  murder.  It  was  proved  in  court  by  a  witness 
that  in  a  drunken  row  this  widow’s  son  had  struck  the 
blow  that  killed  the  man.  Everybody  thought  the  young 
man  would  be  hanged.  When  questioned  by  Lincoln,  the 
witness  said  that  he  had  seen  the  murder  by  moonlight. 
Then  Lincoln  took  a  little  almanac  out  of  his  pocket,  and 
showed  the  court  that  at  the  time  the  man  was  killed  the 
moon  had  not  risen.  The  young  man  was  declared  “  not 
guilty,”  but  Lincoln  would  not  take  any  pay  from  the 
mother. 

In  1846  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected  a  member  of 
Congress.  This  was  during  the  war  with  Mexico.  In 
that  day  the  Southern  States  allowed  negroes  to  be  held 
as  slaves.  The  Northern  States  had  abolished  slavery,  so 
that  part  of  the  States  were  called  free  States  and  part 
slave  States.  There  came  up,  about  this  time,  a  great 
debate  as  to  whether  slavery  should  be  allowed  in  the 
new  Territories.  Lincoln  strongly  opposed  the  holding 
of  slaves  in  the  Territories,  and  he  soon  became  known 


i8o 


LINCOLN  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 


as  a  speaker  on  that  side  of  the  question.  His  fame 
reached  to  the  East,  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  had  come 
up  from  the  poverty  of  a  half-faced  camp,  was  invited  to 
address  a  large  meeting  in  the  great  hall  of  Cooper  Insti¬ 
tute,  in  New  York.  You  see,  the  boy  who  had  tried  to 
think  everything  out  clearly,  and  to  put  every  subject  into 
just  the  right  words,  had  got  such  a  knack  of  saying 
things  well,  that  multitudes  of  educated  people  were  de¬ 
lighted  to  listen  to  his  clear  and  witty  speeches. 

When,  in  i860,  the  antislavery  men  came  to  nominate 
a  President,  many  of  the  Western  people  wanted  Lincoln, 
whom  they  had  come  to  call  “  Old  Abe,”  and  ”  Honest 
Old  Abe.”  When  the  convention  that  was  to  nominate 
a  President  met,  the  friends  of  Lincoln  carried  in  two  of 
the  fence  rails  he  had  split  when  he  v/as  a  young  man, 
and  thousands  of  people  cheered  them.  Lincoln  was 
nominated,  and,  as  the  other  party  split  into  two  parts,  he 
was  elected. 

This  election  was  followed  by  the  great  civil  war. 
The  war  made  President  Lincoln’s  place  a  very  trying 
/'one,  for  people  blamed  him  for  all  defeats  and  failures. 
But  during  all  the  four  years  of  war  he  was  patient  and 
kindly,  and  by  his  honesty  and  wisdom  he  won  the  affec¬ 
tions  of  the  people  and  the  soldiers.  People  thought  of 
him  at  first  as  only  a  man  who  had  happened  to  get 
elected  President.  But  during  these  long  years  he  showed 
himself  a  great  man,  and  when  the  war  was  ended  he  was 
respected  over  all  the  world. 

When  the  terrible  war  was  over  and  the  soldiers  were 


/ 


LINCOLN  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 


1 8 1 

coming  home,  Lincoln  was  shot  by  an  assassin  as  he  sat 
in  the  theater,  on  the  14th  of  April,  1865.  His  death  was 
lamented  not  only  over  all  this  country,  but  throughout 
Europe,  for  his  goodness  of  heart  made  him  as  much 
loved  as  his  greatness  of  mind  made  him  admired. 

Com'-pass,  an  instrument  showing  direction  by  means  of  a  magnetic 
needle  which  points  always  toward  the  north  and  south  poles.  It  is  used  by 
surveyors  to  fix  the  direction  of  lines  between  parcels  of  land.  Circuit 
[sir'-kit],  in  the  lesson,  means  all  places  in  which  a  judge  held  courts. 
Nom'-i-nate,  to  name  a  man  as  the  candidate  of  a  party  for  a  particular 
office.  Civ'-il  war,  war  between  two  parties  in  the  same  country.  As- 
sas'-sin,  one  who  murders  another. 

Tell  about — 

The  various  occupations  of  Lincoln  before  he  became  a  lawyer. 

Lincoln  as  a  lawyer. 

The  stories  of  Lincoln's  kindness. 

Lincoln’s  part  in  the  debate  about  slavery. 

How  he  was  nominated  and  elected. 

Lincoln  as  President. 

Lincoln’s  death. 


XXXI. 

Something  about  the  Great  Civil  War. 

SOON  after  Abraham  Lincoln  became  President  there 
broke  out  the  civil  war,  which  caused  the  death  of  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  brave  men,  and  brought  sorrow 
to  nearly  every  home  in  the  United  States.  Perhaps  none 
of  those  who  study  this  book  will  ever  see  so  sad  a  time. 
But  it  was  also  a  brave  time,  when  men  gave  their  lives  for 
the  cause  they  believed  to  be  right.  Women,  in  those  days, 
suffered  in  patience  the  loss  of  their  husbands  and  sons,  and 


182 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  GREAT  CIVIL  WAR. 


very  many  of  them  went  to  nurse  the  wounded,  or  toiled 
at  home  to  gather  supplies  of  nourishing  food  for  sick 
soldiers  in  hospitals. 

The  war  came  about  in  this  way:  There  had  been 
almost  from  the  foundation  of  the  Government  a  rivalry 
between  the  Northern  and  Southern  States.  Long  and 
angry  debates  took  place  about  slavery,  about  the  rights  of 
the  States  and  the  government  of  the  Territories.  These 
had  produced  much  bitter  feeling.  When  a  President  op¬ 
posed  to  slavery  was  elected,  some  of  the  Southern  States 
asserted  that  they  had  a  right  to  withdraw  from  the  Union. 
This  the  Northern  States  denied,  declaring  that  the  Union 
could  not  be  divided ;  but  before  Lincoln  was  inaugurated, 
seven  States  had  declared  themselves  out  of  the  Union. 

They  formed  a  new  government,  which  they 
called  “  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  ” 
and  elected  Jefferson  Davis  President. 

President  Lincoln  refused  to  acknowledge 
that  the  Confederate  States  were  a  govern¬ 
ment.  He  refused  to  allow  the  United  States 
fort  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  South  Caro¬ 
lina,  to  be  surrendered  to  the  Confederates, 
and  he  sent  ships  with  provisions  for  the 
small  garrison  of  this  fort.  The  Southern 
troops  about  Charleston  refused  to  let 
these  provisions  be  landed,  and  at  length 
opened  fire  on  the  fort.  This  began  the 
war.  Four  other  States  now  joined  the 
Confederacy,  making  eleven  in  all. 


ULYSSES  S.  GRANT. 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  GREAT  CIVIL  WAR. 


183 


It  was  a  time  of  awful  excitement  in  every  part  of  the 
country.  All  winter  long  angry  passions  had  been  rising 
both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South.  When  the  first  gun 
was  fired  at  Sumter,  in  April,  1861,  there  was  such  a  storm 
of  fierce  excitement  as  may  never  be  seen  again  in  Amer¬ 
ica.  In  the  North,  a  hundred  thousand  men 
were  enlisted  in  three  days.  The  excitement  in 
the  South  was  just  as  great,  and  a  large  por¬ 
tion  of  the  Southern  people  rushed  to  arms. 

In  those  stormy  times  the  drums  were  beat¬ 
ing  all  day  long  in  the  streets;  flags  waved 
in  every  direction,  and  trains  were  thronged 
with  armed  men  bidding  farewell  to  friends 
and  hastening  forward  to  battle  and  death. 

Men  and  women  wept  in  the  streets  as  they 
cheered  “  the  boys”  who  were  hurrying  away 
to  the  war.  For  a  while  people  hardly 
took  time  to  sleep. 

We  can  not  tell  the  story  of  the  war 
in  this  book;  you  will  study  it  in  larger 


ROBERT  E.  LEE. 


histories.  The  armies  on  both  sides  became  very  large, 
and  during  the  war  there  were  some  of  the  greatest  con¬ 
flicts  ever  seen  in  the  world.  The  first  great  battle  was 
fo  ught  at  Shiloh,  in  Tennessee.  Others  took  place  at  Mur¬ 
freesboro  [mur'-freze-bur'-ro],  Chickamauga  [chick-a-maw'- 
gah],  and  Nashville,  in  Tennessee;  at  Antietam  [an-tee'- 
tam],  in  Maryland;  and  at  Gettysburg,  in  Pennsylvania. 
Very  many  battles,  great  and  small,  were  fought  in  Virginia, 
between  Washington  and  Richmond. 


1 84  SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  GREAT  CIVIL  WAR. 


On  the  side  of  the  Union  the  three  most  famous  generals 
were  U.  S.  Grant,  W.  T.  Sherman,  and  Philip  H.  Sheri¬ 
dan.  The  three  greatest  generals  on  the  Confederate  side 
were  Robert  E.  Lee,  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  and 
Thomas  J.  Jackson,  commonly  called  “  Stone¬ 
wall  Jackson.” 

Both  sides  showed  the  greatest  courage. 
The  generals  on  both  sides  were  very  skill¬ 
ful.  Victory  was  now  with  one  party  and 
now  with  the  other;  but,  as  the  years  passed 
on,  the  Union  armies,  being  the  stronger, 
gradually  gained  one  advan¬ 
tage  after  another.  By 
means  of  troops  and  gun¬ 
boats  sent  down  from  the 
North  under  Grant,  and  a 
fleet  under  Admiral  Farra- 
gut,  which  was  sent  around 
by  sea  to  capture  New  Orleans,  the  whole 
of  the  Mississippi  River  was  secured.  Be¬ 
tween  Washington  and  Richmond  the  Con- 
federates  won  many  victories,  but  they 
were  at  length  compelled  to  fall  back  be-  ^ 
hind  the  fortifications  of  Richmond  and 
Petersburg,  where  they  were  besieged  by 
General  Grant. 

During  the  time  of  this  siege  General  Sherman  marched 
directly  into  the  heart  of  the  Confederacy,  where  he  was 
for  weeks  without  any  communication  with  the  North.  He 


CONFEDERATE  SOLDIER. 


UNION  SOLDIER. 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  GREAT  CIVIL  WAR. 


I85 


marched  across  the  great  and  fertile  State  of  Georgia,  from 
Atlanta  to  Savannah,  on  the  seacoast,  and  then  from  Sa¬ 
vannah  northward  toward  Richmond.  By  destroying  the 
railroads  and  the  food  by  which  General  Lee’s  army  in 
Richmond  was  supplied,  this  march  of  Sherman’s  made  it 
impossible  for  the  Confederates  to  continue  the  war. 

Lee  was  forced  to  retreat  from  Richmond,  and  he  sur¬ 
rendered  his  army  on  the  9th  of  April,  1865.  All  the  other 
Confederate  forces  soon  after  laid  down  their  arms.  The 
war  had  lasted  four  years.  As  a  result  of  the  long  strug¬ 
gle,  slavery  was  abolished  in  all  the  territory  of  the  United 
States. 

Ri'-val-ry  here  means  a  strife  for  influence  or  mastery  in  the  Govern¬ 
ment.  T er '-ri-to-ries,  regions  of  country  belonging  to  the  United  States 
not  yet  admitted  to  the  Union  as  States.  Most  of  the  States  were  gov¬ 
erned  as  Territories  until  they  contained  population  enough  for  States,  and 
the  present  Territories  expect  to  be  made  into  States.  The  States  regulate 
their  own  affairs  and  have  full  representation  in  both  houses  of  Congress. 
The  Territories  are  governed  as  Congress  may  direct.  Gun'-boat,  a 
small  war  vessel  adapted  to  shallow  water.  Fertile  [fer'-til],  fruitful,  bear¬ 
ing  abundant  crops.  Abolished  [a-bol'-isht],  done  away  with  ;  destroyed.- 

Tell  about — 

The  sorrows  of  the  civil  war. 

The  courage  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  war. 

The  causes  of  the  war. 

The  Confederate  States. 

The  firing  of  the  first  gun. 

The  excitement  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

The  great  battles. 

The  great  generals. 

The  course  of  the  war. 

Its  end. 

Its  results. 


1 86  SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  SPANISH  WAR. 

XXXII. 

Something  about  the  Spanish  War. 

The  war  with  Spain  took  place  in  1898.  It  was  caused 
by  two  things.  For  many  years  there  had  been  a  rebellion 
against  Spain  in  Cuba.  Our  people  were  very  sorry  for  the 
Cuban  people,  who  were  treated  cruelly.  This  made  the 
Spaniards  angry  at  the  United  States.  One  of  our  war  ships, 
the  Maine,  was  sent  to  the  harbor  of  Havana  [ha-van'a],  to 
protect  Americans  there.  It  was  blown  up  in  the  night  and 
two  hundred  and  sixty-six  men  on  board  were  killed.  An 
examination  showed  that  it  was  blown  up  by  something 
placed  against  the  outside  of  the  ship.  This  aroused  the 
American  people.  Congress  demanded  that  Spain  should 
take  her  armies  away  from  Cuba.  This  she  refused  to  do, 
and  war  was  declared. 

When  war  was  declared,  there  was  an  American  fleet  in 
Chinese  waters.  There  was  a  Spanish  fleet  at  Manila  [ma- 
nil'a]  in  the  Philippine  [fil'ip-in]  Islands,  which  belonged  to 
Spain.  Commodore  Dewey,  who  commanded  the  American 
fleet,  sailed  to  Manila  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  beginning 
of  the  war. 

Not  finding  the  Spanish  fleet  outside  of  the  harbor,  he 
sailed  into  the  great  Bay  of  Manila  very  silently.  This  was 
about  midnight  before  the  morning  of  the  first  day  of  May. 
All  the  lights  on  the  ships  that  could  have  been  seen  from 
the  shore  were  put  out,  so  that  the  last  ship  was  passing  the 
batteries  at  the  entrance  to  the  bay  before  the  alarm  was 
given.  At  daylight  the  ships  gave  battle  to  the  Spanish 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  SPANISH  WAR. 


1 87 


fleet,  which  was  protected  by  shore  batteries.  It  seemed 
certain  that  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  American  ships  would  be 
sunk  by  the  heavy  guns  on  shore,  but  the  Spanish  gunners 
were  not  equal  to  those  of  the  American  ships,  who  had 
given  much  attention  to  target  practice.  The  Spaniards 


BATTLE  OF  MANILA  BAY. 

fought  bravely,  but  their  shore  batteries  were  silenced  and 
their  fleet  destroyed  by  the  American  fire.  The  American 
fleet  did  not  lose  a  single  man  in  the  fight. 

A  Spanish  fleet  sent  from  Spain  to  attack  the  American 
coast  towns  took  refuge  in  the  harbor  of  Santiago  [sahn-te- 
ah'go]  in  Cuba.  The  harbor  was  so  well  protected  that  the 


1 88 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  SPANISH  WAR, 


American  fleet  could  not  enter  it.  An  army  was  landed  to 
the  east  of  the  city  of  Santiago  to  take  it  by  land.  One 
portion  of  this  army  was  sent  to  take  the  little  village  of  El 
Caney  [ca-nay']  at  the  north,  and  another  was  sent  to  wait  in 
front  of  the  hill  of  San  Juan  [hoo-ahn']  and  capture  that 
after  El  Caney  was  taken.  But  the  men  in  front  of  the  bat¬ 
teries  of  San  Juan  found  themselves  under  fire.  Many  of 
them  were  killed.  They  could  not  retreat,  for  the  narrow 
road  behind  them  was  crowded.  They  were  not  willing  to 
stay  where  they  were  and  be  slaughtered.  So  they  resolved 
about  noon  to  attack  the  Spaniards  in  the  batteries  ahead  of 
them.  “  If  you  don’t  wish  to  go  along,”  said  the  colonel  of 
the  regiment  known  as  the  Rough  Riders,  “  let  my  men 
pass,  please.”  But  the  men  to  whom  he  spoke  did  wish  to 
go  along.  They  fell  into  line  and  followed  Roosevelt  [rose'- 
velt],  who  led  a  desperate  charge  on  horseback.  In  another 
part  of  the  line  a  veteran  general,  Hawkins,  rode  at  the  head 
of  his  men,  waving  his  hat.  Slowly  up  the  hill  marched  the 
Americans  under  a  deadly  fire,  until  at  last  they  carried  the 
trenches  and  blockhouse  at  the  summit  with  a  rush. 

Three  miles  away,  at  El  Caney,  a  yet  more  stubborn 
fight  was  raging.  The  Americans  in  the  thick  of  it  were 
commanded  by  General  Chaffee,  who  made  his  men  lie  down, 
but  who  stood  erect  himself.  A  button  was  shot  off  his  coat, 
and  one  of  his  shoulder  straps  was  torn  by  bullets.  At  last 
the  works  at  El  Caney  were  carried.  These  battles  took 
place  on  the  1st  of  July. 

Two  days  after  the  battles  by  which  the  Americans  carried 
the  Spanish  trenches,  the  American  ships  were  watching  the 


SOMETHING  ABOUT  THE  SPANISH  WAR. 


1 89 

mouth  of  the  harbor  as  usual.  To  their  surprise  the  Spanish 
fleet  was  seen  coming  out  from  Santiago.  The  Spanish  ships 
tried  to  escape  by  running  to  the  westward.  But  the  Ameri¬ 
can  ships  pursued  and  fought  them  until  one  after  another 
of  the  Spanish  vessels  was  sunk  or  set  on  fire.  The  Ameri¬ 
can  sailors  rescued  as  many  as  possible  of  the  drowning 
Spaniards,  and  treated  them  kindly.  The  city  of  Santiago 
was  soon  after  surrendered.  After  these  successes  of  the 
Americans  it  was  impossible  for  Spain  to  continue  her  resist¬ 
ance  long.  Peace  was  made  at  last.  As  a  result  of  the 
war  Spain  gave  up  her  authority  over  Cuba,  Porto  Rico 
[re'co],  and  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Re-belTion,  open  resistance  by  people  to  their  own  rulers. 
Com'mo-dore,  a  naval  officer  of  high  rank.  Bat'ter-y,  a  place 
where  cannon  are  set  up,  ready  for  use.  Trench,  a  kind  of  ditch  in 
which  men  are  sheltered  from  the  enemy’s  fire. 

Tell  about — 

The  rebellion  in  Cuba. 

The  Maine. 

The  battle  of  Manila  Bay, 

The  battles  near  Santiago. 

Commodore  Dewey. 

The  brave  generals. 

The  result  of  the  war, 


190 


GREAT  EXPOSITIONS. 


XXXIII. 

Great  Expositions. 

In  the  summer  of  1876,  a  great  exposition  was  held  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia.  It  was  called  the  Centennial  Exposition, 
because  its  purpose  was  to  celebrate  the  one-hundredth  anni¬ 
versary  of  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
It  was,  in  fact,  a  grand  birthday  party.  The  United  States, 
as  a  free  and  independent  country,  was  one  hundred  years 
old ;  and  all  the  world  was  invited  to  come  or  send  delegates  to 
the  celebration. 

Nearly  every  civilized  nation  accepted  the  invitation ;  and 
samples  of  the  natural  products,  the  manufactures,  and  the 
inventions  of  every  country  were  brought  together  for  exhibi¬ 
tion.  For  it  had  been  decided  that  the  nation’s  birthday  cele¬ 
bration  should  be  in  the  form  of  a  world’s  fair  where  the  great 
achievements  of  mankind  in  science,  art,  and  literature  might 
be  seen. 

Our  own  country  had  made  wonderful  progress  during  the 
first  hundred  years  of  its  life.  In  the  matter  of  labor-saving 
and  useful  inventions,  not  one  of  the  older  nations  was  able  to 
make  so  good  a  showing.  Numerous  and  wonderful  were  the 
machines  and  mechanical  improvements  that  were  exhibited. 
Steam  engines,  locomotives,  reapers  and  mowers,  threshing 
machines,  cotton  gins,  the  telegraph,  sewing  machines  —  most 
of  them  the  inventions  of  Americans  —  formed  no  small  por¬ 
tion  of  the  wonderful  things  that  had  come  into  existence 
since  the  nation’s  birth  on  July  4th,  1776.  The  telephone  and 
the  electric  light,  both  in  very  crude  forms,  were  exhibited  only 


GREAT  EXPOSITIONS. 


i9i 

as  curiosities ;  for  no  one  yet  dreamed  of  the  wonderful  uses 
to  which  they  would  soon  be  put.  Most  of  the  electrical  in¬ 
ventions  which  are  now  so  common  and  which  seem  so  neces¬ 
sary  to  us,  were  then  unknown. 


MEMORIAL  HALL  AT  CENTENNIAL  EXPOSITION,  PHILADELPHIA. 


There  were  many  other  things  shown  besides  machinery 
and  inventions ;  and  all  these  redounded  to  the  honor  of  our 
country  and  illustrated  the  wonderful  progress  that  had  been 
made.  In  1776,  the  American  nation  consisted  of  thirteen 
struggling  English  colonies  situated  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 
In  1876,  or  one  hundred  years  later,  its  domain  extended  from 
ocean  to  ocean  and  embraced  thirty-eight  free  and  flourishing 
states.  That  the  advancement  in  all  branches  of  human  effort 
had  been  equally  great  was  shown  by  exhibits  as  instructive 
as  they  were  marvelous.  The  nation’s  first  great  birthday  party 
not  only  made  other  people  acquainted  with  our  country  and 


192 


GREAT  EXPOSITIONS. 


its  resources,  but  inspired  our  own  people  with  the  worthy 
ambition  to  press  forward  on  the  road  of  progress. 

Since  then  several  other  national  expositions  have  been  held 
in  this  country.  In  1892,  the  Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  world.  You  can  guess  from  its 
name  what  were  its  occasion  and  purpose.  Four  hundred  years 
had  passed  since  Christopher  Columbus  sailed  boldly  across 
what  was  then  an  unknown  ocean  and  discovered  the  new  land 
of  America.  The  Columbian  Exposition,  then,  was  held  in 
honor  of  Columbus  and  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  his 
great  achievement. 

Again  the  nations  of  the  world  joined  with  the  United  States 
in  a  great  industrial  exhibition  which  marked  the  progress  of 
mankind..  And  this  progress  had  been  so  rapid  that  many  of 
the  things  which  had  been  objects  of  wonder  at  Philadelphia 
only  sixteen  years  before,  now  seemed  crude,  common,  and  old- 
fashioned.  The  telephone  and  the  electric  light  had  already 
become  useful ;  and  great  improvements  had  been  made  in  all 
kinds  of  machinery. 

In  1901,  the  Pan-American  Exposition  was  held  at  Buffalo, 
New  York.  One  of  the  objects  of  this  exposition  was  to  bring 
into  closer  business  relations  and  friendship  all  the  various 
nations  comprised  in  the  continents  of  North  America  and 
South  America.  Special  attention  was  therefore  given  tc 
American  products  and  the  results  of  American  enterprise,  and 
the  exposition  did  much  towards  making  the  people  of  the  two 
continents  acquainted  with  each  other.  It  was  while  attending 
this  exposition  that  William  McKinley,  the  twenty-fifth  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  United  States,  was  killed  by  an  assassin.  He  was 


GREAT  EXPOSITIONS. 


J93 


succeeded  by  the  Vice  President,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who 
was  elected  President  for  a  second  term  in  1904. 

The  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  was  held  at  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  in  1904.  It  was  designed  to  mark  the  one-hun¬ 
dredth  year  since  the  vast  province  or  territory  of  Louisiana 
became  a  part  of  the  United  States.  As  we  have  already 
learned  (page  13 1),  the  purchase  of  this  region  by  President 
Jefferson  more  than  doubled  the  size  of  the  United  States. 
The  new  territory  was  divided  into  many  states  and  became  one 
of  the  richest  and  most  important  portions  of  our  country. 

The  exposition  at  St.  Louis  rivaled  if  it  did  not  excel  any  of 
the  similar  events  before  it.  Many  of  the  inventions  and 
products  that  were  shown 
there  were  unknown  at  the 
time  of  the  Centennial  Ex¬ 
position  only  twenty-eight 
years  before.  Phonographs, 
typewriters,  bicycles,  auto¬ 
mobiles,  electric  railroads, 
trolley  cars,  and  many  other  things  that  are  now  in  common 
use,  had  come  into  existence  during  that  short  period.  More 
than  all  this,  nations  which  in  1876  were  regarded  as  outside 
of  the  circle  of  civilization,  like  Japan,  China,  and  Siam,  were 
well  represented  by  a  variety  of  useful  and  wonderful  products. 
Thus  the  rapid  progress  of  the  world  in  matters  of  comfort  and 
intelligence  was  again  illustrated. 

In  the  year  1915,  our  country  celebrated  the  opening  of  the 
Panama  Canal  to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  As  an  important 
part  of  that  celebration,  expositions  were  held  at  San  Francisco 


EARLY  AUTOMOBILE. 


194 


GREAT  EXPOSITIONS. 


and  at  San  Diego,  California,  rivaling  in  interest  and  impor¬ 
tance  all  that  had  preceded  them. 


EXPOSITION  AT  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


The  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  was  one  of  the  great 
events  in  the  history  of  our  country.  In  the  next  chapter 
of  this  book  we  will  read  about  that  canal,  which  is  probably 
the  most  important  work  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

Ex-po-si'-tion,  a  great  exhibition  of  manufactured  objects,  natural 
products,  and  other  interesting  things.  Cen-ten'-ni-al,  from  two  Latin 
words  meaning  the  hundredth  year.  Del'-e-gates,  persons  chosen  to 
represent  others  and  to  act  for  them.  In-dus'-tri-al,  relating  to  labor 
and  industry. 

Tell  about  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Name  some  of  the  great  inventions  that  were  made  previous  to  the 
year  1876. 

Name  some  great  inventions  that  were  made  after  that  date* 


THE  PANAMA  CANAL. 


*95 


XXXIV. 

The  Panama  Canal. 

Panama  is  the  name  given  to  the  isthmus  or  narrow  neck 
of  land  that  connects  the  two  continents  of  North  America 
and  South  America.  When  Columbus  was  on  his  fourth  and 
last  voyage  he  sailed  along  the  northern  coast  of  this  isthmus, 
vainly  trying  to  find  a  passage  to  India ;  for  he  supposed  that 
India  was  quite  near,  and  never  dreamed  that  a  vast  ocean 
still  lay  between  him  and  the  Far  East.  A  few  years  later,  a 
daring  Spaniard  named  Balboa  (bal-bo'-a)  climbed  the  low  range 
of  mountains  in  the  interior  of  the  isthmus  and  discovered  the 
mighty  Pacific  only  a  short  distance  beyond.  The  Spaniards, 
some  time  afterward,  built  a  roadway  across  the  isthmus 
which  they  used  in  conveying  goods  and  treasure  from  one 
ocean  to  the  other.  Mules  with  packsaddles  were  used  instead 
of  wagons.  As  early  as  1560,  a  Spaniard  named  Gomera 
(go-ma'-ra)  suggested  the  building  of  a  canal.  But  more  than 
three  hundred  years  elapsed  before  any  work  of  that  kind  was 
attempted. 

In  1881  a  French  company  began  work  on  the  canal  under 
the  direction  of  a  famous  French  engineer  named  De  Lesseps. 
Eight  years  passed.  Little  was  accomplished,  although  many 
millions  of  dollars  were  wasted.  Finally,  the  work  was  aban¬ 
doned  and  the  canal  company  offered  to  sell  its  rights  to  the 
United  States. 

It  was  not  until  1902,  however,  that  our  government  was 
ready  to  begin  operations.  In  the  following  year  the  state  of 
Panama,  which  is  about  the  size  of  South  Carolina,  revolted 


196 


THE  PANAMA  CANAL. 


from  Colombia,  a  country  in  South  America,  and  declared  itself 
independent.  It  then  made  a  treaty  with  the  United  States 
by  which  a  strip  of  land  five  miles  wide  on  each  side  of  the  canal 
was  granted  to  our  government.  This  strip  is  known  as  the 
Canal  Zone  and  is  one  of  the  possessions  of  the  United  States. 

Work  was  begun  at  once.  The  estimated  cost  was  three 
hundred  and  seventy-five  million  dollars.  There  were  no 
serious  hindrances  and  the  canal  was  ready,  in  January,  1915, 


h 


SHIP  PASSING  THROUGH  THE  PANAMA  CANAL. 


for  the  passage  of  the  largest  vessels.  Its  total  length  from 
ocean  to  ocean  is  about  fifty  miles,  and  the  bottom  width  of 
the  channel  is  from  300  to  650  feet.  The  advantages  of  the 
canal  are  very  great.  Vessels  from  seaports  on  the  western 
coast  of  North  America  are  no  longer  obliged  to  take  the  long 
voyage  around  the  southern  point  of  South  America  in  order 
to  reach  the  Atlantic.  In  sailing  from  San  Francisco  to  New 


THE  PANAMA  CANAL. 


*97 


York,  a  distance  of  more  than  8000  miles  is  saved.  The  cost  of 
carrying  all  kinds  of  goods  between  Atlantic  seaports  and  Pacific 
seaports  has  been  very  much  lessened.  No  greater  feat  of 
engineering  has  ever  been  accomplished  than  the  building  of 
the  Panama  Canal. 

Our  country  now  consists  of  forty-eight  states  and  extends 
without  a  break  across  the  North  American  continent.  The 
population  has  increased  from  three  millions  to  more  than  one 
hundred  millions.  Great  cities  have  sprung  up  wherever  there 
were  facilities  for  manufacturing  or  commerce.  Railroads  — 
things  undreamed  of  a  hundred  years  ago  —  cover  the  country 
like  a  network  and  make  traveling  easy.  Telegraph  lines  and 
telephones  carry  the  news  of  the  world  quickly  to  every  city 
and  town,  and  the  newspapers  print  the  same  for  the  informa¬ 
tion  of  the  people.  Mills  and  factories  of  all  kinds  give  employ¬ 
ment  to  millions  of  men  and  women.  The  great  farming  lands 
of  the  West  supply  the  necessaries  of  life  to  half  the  world.  In 
both  East  and  West,  rich  mines  supply  coal  and  iron  and  pre¬ 
cious  metals  in  never-failing  quantities.  In  every  state,  there 
is  an  efficient  system  of  public  schools  for  the  free  education  of 
the  children  of  poor  and  rich  alike.  All  these  things  belong  to 
the  history  of  our  country ;  they  are  the  conquests  of  peace, 
and  they  help  to  make  our  nation  strong  and  great. 

Istb'-mus,  a  narrow  neck  of  land  joining  together  two  larger  bodies 
of  land.  A-ban'-doned,  given  up.  Ef-fi'-cient,  effective ;  highly  useful. 

Give  an  account  of  the  building  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

Why  was  this  work  of  so  great  importance  to  our  country  ? 


198 


GROWTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


XXXV. 

How  the  United  States  became  Larger. 

An  Object  Lesson  in  Historic  Geography . 

To  the  Teacher. — When  this  lesson  is  studied,  the  pupil  should 
,cut  out  the  blank  parts  of  each  leaf,  as  directed,  before  the  lesson,  or  as 
it  proceeds,  laying  each  section  of  the  map  down  so  as  to  connect  with 
the  succeeding  one,  and  giving  time  to  impress  vividly  on  his  mind  the 
form  and  relative  extent  of  the  national  territory  after  each  successive 
addition.  When  the  book  is  used  after  the  leaves  have  been  cut  out,  a 
sheet  of  paper  may  be  laid  between  pages  200  and  201,  and  then  re¬ 
moved  and  placed,  as  the  lesson  progresses,  between  202  and  203,  204 
and  205,  206  and  207. 


When  Washington  was  a  young  man,  the  French 
claimed  all  the  land  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  If 
the  French  had  succeeded  in  holding  all  this  western 
country  the  United  States  would  always  have  been  only 
a  little  strip  of  thirteen  States  along  the  Atlantic  coast, 
reaching  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  But  by  conquering 

Canada  the  English  got  possession  of 
all  the  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  This  was  given  up  to  England 
by  the  French  in  the  treaty  made 
twelve  years  before  the  Revolu¬ 
tionary  War.  Daniel  Boone  and 
other  settlers  soon  after- 


6EVENTH  ADDITION  TO 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 
SEE  PAGE  207. 


wards  crossed  the 
mountains  and  be- 
gan  to  take  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  great  West. 


199 


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PATENTED,  MARCH  4,  1890. 


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GROWTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


201 


During  the  first  year  of  the  Revolution  no  care  was 
taken  to  drive  the  British  from  the  forts  in  the  West. 
But  in  1778  George  Rogers  Clark  led  a 
little  band  of  Kentucky  settlers  through 
the  wilderness  to  the  Mississippi  Riv¬ 
er,  where  he  captured  the  British  fort 
at  Kaskaskia,  in  what  is  now  Illinois. 

He  then  marched  eastward  and  cap¬ 
tured  Vincennes,  in  the  present  State  of 
Indiana.  These  and  other  victories  of 
Clark  gave  the  United 


FIRST  ADDITION, 
PROVINCE  OF  LOUISIANA, 
PURCHASED  IN  1803. 


Cut  out  along  the  dotted  lines 


Cut  out  this  part  of  the  paper  along  the  dotted  lines 
and  along  the  edge  of  the  map. 


GROWTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


203 


States,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  a  claim  to  all  the  coun¬ 
try  lying  east  of  the  Mississippi.  In  the  map,  page  199, 
you  will  see  what  was  the  size  of  our 

country  when  the  war  closed.  THIRD  ADD1TION>  FLORIDA’  1821. 

In  1803,  twenty-one  years  after  the 
close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Presi¬ 
dent  Jefferson  bought  from  France  all 
that  large  region  beyond  the  Mississippi 
'River  known  then  as  Louisiana.  It  has 
since  been  cut  up  into  many  States  and 
Territories.  You  will  see  by  the  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  map  on  page  201  just  how 
large  it  was.  If  you  cut  off  the  white 
part  of  page  199  and  lay  the  leaf 
down  on  page  201,  you  will  see 
just  how  much  the  United  States 
was  increased  in  size  when 
Jefferson  bought  the  old 
province  of  Louisiana.  The 


SECOND  ADDITION,  OREGON  COUNTRY,”  , 
BY  EXPLORATION  BEFORE  AND 
IN  THE  YEAR  1805. 


Cut  out  this  part  of  the  leaf 
within  the  dotted  lines, 
and  along  the  edge  of  the  map. 


GROWTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


205 


size  of  the  country  was  more  than  doubled  when  Lou¬ 
isiana  was  added  to  it. 


The  province  of  Louisiana  did  not  reach  to  the  west¬ 


ward  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  But  in  1791,  before  Lou¬ 
isiana  was  bought,  Robert  Gray,  the  first  sea  captain  that 
ever  carried  the  American  flag  around  the  world,  discov¬ 
ered  the  river  Oregon,  which  he  called  the  Columbia,  after 
the  name  of  his  ship.  After  Jefferson  had  bought  Louisi¬ 
ana  for  the  United  States,  he  sent  the  explorers  Lewis  and 
Clark  with  a  party  to  examine  the  western  part  of  the 
new  territory,  and  to  push  on  to  the  Pacific.  These  men 
were  two  years  and  four  months  making  the  trip  from 
St.  Louis  to  the  Pacific  Ocean 


and  back.  They  reached  tl 
ocean  in  1805,  and  spent  the 
ter  at  the  mouth  of  the  Colui 
River.  The  “  Oregon 
country,”  as  it  was  called, 
was  then  an  unclaimed 
wilderness,  and  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  the  riv-  . . 


FOURTH  ADDITION,  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS,  1845. 


er  by  Captain 
Gray,  with  the  ex¬ 
ploration  of  the 
country  by  Lewis 


and  Clark,  gave  i  Cut  out 


Cut  out  this  part  within  the  dotted  lines. 


the  United  States 
a  claim  to  it. 
The  region  which 


206 


GROWTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


was  added  to  the  United  States  by  these  explorations  is 
shown  on  page  203.  By  cutting  off  the  white  part  of 
page  201  and  laying  it  down  upon  203,  you  will  see  how 
the  “Oregon  country”  extended  the  United  States  to 

the  Pacific  Ocean. 

On  this  same  page  203  you  will  also  find  a '  map  of 
Florida.  The  peninsula  of  Florida  was  occupied  by  the 
Spaniards  more  than  forty  years  before  the  first  colony  of 
English  people  landed  at  Jamestown.  From  the  time  the 
colonies  were  settled,  there  were  many  quarrels  between 

the  people  of  this  country  and  the  Spanish  inhabitants 
of  Florida.  But  in  1821  Florida  was  bought  from  Spain, 
and  became  a  part  of  the  United  States. 

Mexico,  which  was  at  first  a  Spanish  colony,  rebelled 
against  Spain,  and  secured  its  independence.  One  of  the 
States  of  the  Mexican  Republic  was  Texas.  Americans 
who  had  settled  in  Texas  got  into  a  dispute  with  the 
government  of  Mexico.  This  took  the  form  of  a  revolu¬ 

tion,  and  Texas  became  an  independent  republic,  under 
a  president  of  its  own.  In  1845  th is  republic  of  Texas 

was  annexed  to 
the  United  States 
by  its  own  con¬ 
sent,  and  has 
been  from  that 
time  the  largest 
State  in  the 
Union.  By  re¬ 
moving  the  blank 


GROWTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


207 


part  of  page  203  you  will  connect  the  map  of  Texas,  on 
page  205,  with  the  rest,  and  this  will  show  what  our  coun¬ 
try  was  in  1845. 

The  Mexicans,  though  driven  out  of  Texas,  were  quite 
unwilling  to  lose  so  large  a  territory.  The  annexation  of 
Texas  to  the  United  States  led  to  a  war  with  Mexico,  which 
lasted  two  years.  During  this  war  the  United  States  troops 
took  from  Mexico  California,  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  a 
large  region  known  as  New  Mexico,  in  the  interior.  At 
the  close  of  the  war,  in  1847,  this  territory  was  retained  by 
the  United  States,  which  paid  to  Mexico  fifteen  million 
dollars  for  it.  Another  small  tract  was  bought  from  Mex¬ 
ico  in  1851,  which  we  may  account  part  of  the  addition 
from  Mexico  in  consequence  of  the  war,  and  consider  the 
two  together.  You  will  see,  on  this  page,  how  large  a  re¬ 
gion  was  added  to  the  country  by  these  annexations  from 
Mexico.  Cut  out  the  blank  space  from  page  205,  and 
you  will  see  how  the  country  has  been  built  up  by  ad¬ 
ditions  of  territory 


The  only  parts  cr 
our  continent  go^ 
erned  by  the  Unite 
States  which  lie  sep; 
rate  from  the  rest  are 
Alaska  and  the  Cana 
Zone.  Alaska  was 
bought  from  Russia 
in  1867.  You  will 


to  its  present  size. 


FIFTH  AND  SIXTH  ADDITIONS, 
TERRITORY  CEDED  BY  MEXICO 
IN  1848  AND  1851. 


20S 


GROWTH  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


get  some  notion  of  its  position  with  reference  to  the  rest  of 
the  country  by  looking  at  the  map  on  page  198,  in  its  rela¬ 
tion  to  the  sections  on  pages  199,  201,  203,  205,  and  207. 
The  Canal  Zone  came  under  the  control  of  the  United  States 
in  1904.  Our  country  also  owns  some  outlying  islands:  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  in  the  middle  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which 
were  annexed  in  1898;  the  islands  taken  from  Spain  at  the 
close  of  the  Spanish  War ;  part  of  the  Samoan  group  in  the 
Pacific ;  and  three  of  the  Virgin  Islands  in  the  West  Indies. 
The  territory  of  the  United  States  is  thus  made  up  of  thirteen 
parts.  There  is,  first,  the  country  as  it  was  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  then  twelve  additions  made  at  different 
times. 

Prov'-ince,  a  colony  or  region  belonging  to  a  distant  country. 
Treaty  [tree'-ty],  a  contract  or  agreement  between  two  nations.  Re- 
pub'-lie,  a  country  governed  by  representatives  of  the  people. 

Tell  about — 

The  conquest  of  the  West  from  the  French. 

The  capture  of  English  forts  at  the  West  by  George  Rogers  Clark 

The  western  limit  of  the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the  Revoiu 

tionary  War. 

The  ten  additions  to  the  United  States  : 

1.  The  province  of  Louisiana. 

2.  The  Oregon  Country. 

3.  Florida. 

4.  Texas. 

5  and  6.  Additions  from  Mexico. 

7.  Alaska. 

8.  Hawaii. 

9.  The  islands  from  Spain. 

10.  The  Canal  Zone. 

1 1 .  Part  of  the  Samoan  Islands. 

12-  Virgin  Islands. 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


209 


XXXVI. 

America  in  the  World  War. 

One  day  early  in  August,  1914,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
were  astounded  by  the  news  that  a  great  German  army  had 
invaded  Belgium  and  was  destroying  every  town  that  offered 
to  resist.  Now,  Belgium  was  a  very  small  country  and  at  peace 
with  all  the  world,  and  it  was  hard  to  believe  that  a  rich  and 
powerful  nation  whom  she  had  never  injured  would  thus  attack 
her  and  lay  waste  her  towns,  killing  many  of  her  helpless  people. 
But  the  next  day  the  news  was  confirmed,  and  it  was  further 
learned  that  the  prime  object  of  the  Germans  was  to  overrun 
France  quickly,  capture  the  city  of  Paris,  and  reduce  the  French 
people  to  subjection. 

The  rulers  of  the  German  Empire  had  been  long  preparing 
for  this  movement.  It  was  to  be  the  first  step  in  gaining  control 
of  the  world  for  Germany.  With  this  in  view,  the  energies  and 
ambitions  of  the  German  nation  were  directed  toward  war. 
The  German  army  was  made  the  strongest  in  the  world,  and  it 
was  equipped  with  the  most  powerful  guns  and  with  endless  sup¬ 
plies  of  munitions  and  stores  of  war.  While  other  nations  were 
engaged  in  the  quiet  occupations  of  peace  and  suspecting  no 
wrong,  the  German  kaiser  and  his  aids  were  plotting  a  campaign 
of  conquest  that  should  end  in  “  World  power  or  downfall !  ” 
And  now,  after  more  than  forty  years  of  preparation,  they 
believed  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  Germany  to  show  her  great 
strength.  They  felt  sure  that  the  conquest  of  France,  and  then 
the  control  of  all  Europe,  would  be  quite  an  easy  matter.  Hence, 
while  one  part  of  their  great  army  was  overrunning  Belgium 


210 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


and  northern  France,  another  on  the  east  was  aiding  Austria- 
Hungary  in  a  war  with  Russia.  Their  watchword  everywhere 
was  “Germany  over  all !” 

But  now  the  unexpected  happened.  The  Belgian  army  fought 
bravely  and  delayed  the  Germans  a  week  or  two.  England, 
although  her  army  was  at  first  very  small,  hastened  to  the  aid 

of  little  Belgium  and 
her  friendly  neighbor, 
France.  The  French 
gathered  together  their 
forces  as  quickly  as  they 
could  and  made  ready  to 
resist  the  oncoming  foe. 
A  great  battle  was  fought 
in  the  valley  of  the 
Marne  River ;  and  the 
German  army  was  halted 
and  turned  back. 

It  did  not  retreat  far, 
however.  Both  armies  dug  lines  of  trenches  extending  entirely 
across  northeastern  France ;  and  in  these  they  lay,  opposing 
each  other,  for  many  months. 

To  the  people  of  the  United  States  all  these  events  came  as  a 
great  surprise.  It  was  hard  to  believe  that  any  nation  would 
thus,  without  provocation,  attack  its  neighbors  and  endanger 
the  peace  of  the  world.  Hence  there  was  at  first  much  difference 
of  opinion,  some  sympathizing  with  Germany  and  some  with  the 
Allies.  President  Wilson  promptly  issued  a  proclamation  of 
neutrality,  warning  all  Americans  to  avoid  taking  any  part  in 


A  FRENCH  TRENCH  IN  1918. 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


2 1 1 


the  war;  and  to  most  of  our  people  it  seemed  impossible  that 
our  government  should  become  embroiled  in  a  conflict  between 
European  nations. 

Soon  it  became  plain,  however,  that  the  selfish  aims  and  lawless 
methods  of  the  Germans  would  make  it  impossible  for  any  self- 
respecting  nation  long  to  remain  neutral.  The  honest  efforts 
of  our  government  to  keep  at  peace  and  retain  the  good  will  of 
all  nations  were  treated  with  scorn  by  the  German  rulers.  As 
Germany,  defeated  on  the  sea,  was  unable  to  trade  with  us,  she 
tried  by  unfair  means  to  stop  our  trade  with  the  Allies.  Agents 
and  spies  of  Germany  everywhere  conspired  against  the  United 
States.  Buildings  were  destroyed,  industries  were  crippled, 
and  the  property  and  lives  of  American  citizens  were  imperiled 
by  men  acting  for  the  German  government.  In  all  the  countries 
of  the  western  continents,  German  agents  were  busy  trying  to 
stir  up  one  nation  against  another,  and  all  against  the  United 
States. 

On  the  seas,  where  all  nations  are  entitled  to  equal  rights,  the 
Germans  were  daily  violating  the  laws  of  nations.  Outrage 
after  outrage  was  committed  upon  the  citizens  and  property  of 
neutral  governments.  Men  going  peaceably  about  their  business, 
helpless  women,  innocent  children,  were  ruthlessly  drowned  when 
several  passenger  ships  were  sunk  by  German  submarines.  The 
property  of  no  nation  was  secure ;  the  flag  of  no  nation  was 
respected. 

So  long  as  it  was  possible  to  do  so,  our  government  at  Washing¬ 
ton  tried  to  believe  that  these  lawless  and  barbarous  deeds  were 
the  work  of  misguided  men  acting  without  authority ;  but  it  was 
very  soon  proved  that  they  were  planned  and  ordered  by  the 


212 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


kaiser’s  government,  and  that  they  were  parts  of  a  world-wide 
system  of  terrorism  intended  to  overawe  and  subdue  all  who  stood 
in  the  way  of  German  ambitions. 

In  May,  1915,  the  British  liner  Lusitania  was  torpedoed  with¬ 
out  warning  and  sunk  off  the  coast  of  Ireland  by  a  German 
submarine.  More  than  a  thousand  passengers  —  peaceable 
men,  women,  and  children  —  perished,  and  of  these,  many  were 
Americans.  Against  such  unlawful  and  inhuman  acts,  President 


l/entilators. 

\  Conning  Torvi 


■iaiBagt 


Periscope 


Torpedo  Hater), 
bepedo  Launching  Tube 


... .  (jasolinelntf/ne 
.  Electric  ffotor-c 


Compressed  AirTanks.  (  Pumps  for  Fuel,  Air  Submarine  ''Torpedo, 
and  balancing  Tanks.  Hines, 


DIAGRAM  OF  A  SMALL  SUBMARINE. 


Wilson  made  frequent  protests  to  the  German  government ; 
but  the  sinking  of  ships  and  the  destruction  of  American  prop¬ 
erty  went  on  as  before. 

Finally,  the  President  demanded  that  these  unlawful  methods 
of  warfare  upon  the  sea  be  abandoned,  and  announced  that  unless 
they  were  abandoned  the  United  States  would  break  off  friendly 
relations  with  Germany.  The  German  government  promised  to 
comply  with  this  demand,  but  some  months  afterwards  with¬ 
drew  the  promise  and  announced  that  after  the  following  day, 
submarines  would  destroy  without  mercy  all  vessels,  neutral  or 
otherwise,  that  were  found  sailing  within  certain  zones  adjoining 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


213 


the  coasts  of  Great  Britain  and  France.  Our  government  there¬ 
upon  broke  off  all  diplomatic  relations  with  Germany,  and  her 
ambassador  at  Washington  was  given  his  passports.  This  was 
early  in  February,  1917. 

It  was  soon  plain  to  all  Americans  that  the  United  States  could 
no  longer  refrain  from  entering  the  war.  In  the  words  of  the 
President,  “Further  neutrality  on  the  part  of  the  American  people 
would  have  been  a  crime  against  their  ancestors,  who  had  given 
their  lives  that  their  descendants  might  be  free.” 

On  April  2,  1917,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  met  in 
special  session  to  consider  the  tremendous  question  that  was 
before  the  people  of  the  country :  Should  it  be  war  or  abject 
submission  to  the  decrees  of  a  despotic  foreign  power  ? 

To  the  Congress  the  President  read  his  message,  in  which  he 
asked  the  representatives  of  the  nation  to  declare  the  existence 
of  a  state  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  the  German 
Empire.  On  the  6th  of  April,  such  a  declaration  was  made  and 
adopted  by  a  joint  resolution  of  the  two  houses  of  Congress ; 
and  thus  the  war  for  liberty  and  humanity  was  begun. 

“The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy,”  declared  the 
President ;  and  from  every  part  of  the  Union  the  response  came  : 
“America  will  make  it  so  !” 

Never  in  the  history  of  our  country  were  the  people  so  solidly 
united  in  support  of  any  great  movement.  Under  the  draft 
act,  a  few  weeks  after  the  declaration  of  war,  nearly  10,000,000 
men  between  the  ages  of  2 1  and  3 1  years  registered  their  names  as 
being  subject  to  military  duty and  from  among  these  were 
chosen  —  partly  by  lot  and  partly  by  classes  —  the  number  that 
were  required  for  immediate  or  early  service.  In  a  remark- 


214 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


ably  brief  space  of  time,  an  army  of  more  than  two  million  men 
was  trained  and  equipped  and  ready  for  active  service. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  war  in  Europe  was  going  on  with  greater 
and  greater  determination  on  both  sides.  Other  nations  were 
one  by  one  drawn  into  the  conflict  until  finally  it  seemed  as  if 
nearly  the  whole  world  was  arrayed  for  self -protection  against 
Germany  and  her  allies,  Austria-Hungary,  Turkey,  and  Bulgaria. 
In  December,  1917,  our  government  declared  war  against  Austria- 

Hungary,  but  aside  from 
sending  a  few  troops  to 
aid  Italy  in  her  struggle 
against  that  monarchy, 
no  real  act  of  war  was 
committed. 

It  was  understood 
from  the  start  that  our 
war  against  Germany 
was  to  be  no  halfway 
affair.  It  was  entered 
into  with  no  thought  of 
failure.  To  carry  it  on 
to  a  successful  ending 
Congress  voted  the  ap¬ 
propriation  of  immense 
sums  of  money.  These  included  the  pay  and  support  of  soldiers, 
the  building  and  equipping  of  arsenals  and  camps,  the  making 
of  arms  and  munitions,  the  construction  of  airplanes  and  “tanks,” 
and  the  building  of  great  shipyards  and  fleets  of  battleships  and 
transport  vessels. 


LAUNCHING  A  SHIP. 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


2I5 


The  money  thus  appropriated  had  to  be  raised  by  taxes  and 
loans.  In  the  years  1917  and  1918,  the  people  voluntarily  loaned 
to  the  government  more  than  21  billions  of  dollars,  receiving 
Liberty  Bonds  and  Victory  Notes  in  return  as  security.  Large 
sums  of  money  were  also  obtained  through  the  sale  of  Thrift 
Stamps  and  War  Savings  Stamps,  and  through  gifts  to  benevo¬ 
lent  organizations  such  as  the  Red  Cross,  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association,  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  and  the 
Salvation  iVrmy. 

The  destruction  of  all  kinds  of  vessels  by  German  submarines 
had  become  so  great  as  to  be  alarming ;  and  the  attention  of  our 
government  was  called  to  the  urgent  need  of  ships.  Without 
ships,  how  could  a  great  army  be  transported  across  the  ocean  ? 
How  could  it  be  supplied  with  necessary  arms  and  munitions  of 
warfare  ?  How  could  food  and  clothing  and  other  things  needful 
to  support  life  be  carried  to  our  soldiers  and  our  allies  ?  It  was 
very  plain  that  unless  the  United  States  had  ships,  and  large 
numbers  of  them  too,  the  war  would  be  lost  at  the  very  beginning. 

Without  loss  of  time  our  government  therefore  began  the 
building  of  ships  on  a  scale  never  before  dreamed  of.  An  Emer¬ 
gency  Fleet  Corporation  was  organized  by  authority  of  Congress, 
and  plans  were  perfected  for  the  building  of  hundreds  of  new  ves¬ 
sels  both  large  and  small.  At  Hog  Island,  near  Philadelphia, 
the  largest  shipyard  in  the  world  was  established  and  put  in 
operation  for  the  construction  of  ships  of  steel.  Other  yards 
were  established  at  numerous  places  along  the  four  coasts  of  our 
country,  and  within  a  remarkably  short  time  the  United  States 
became  the  greatest  shipbuilding  nation  in  the  world.  Most  of 
the  vessels  were  of  steel,  built  after  the  same  pattern  ;  but  many 


21 6 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


efforts  of  the  enemy  to  delay  or  prevent,  our  fleets  of  transports 
and  merchant  vessels  were  able  to  cross  the  ocean  without  much 
hindrance  or  harm.  When  the  war  ended,  American  and  British 
ships  had  not  only  carried  over  vast  stores  of  munitions  and  food¬ 
stuffs  for  our  friends,  the  Allies,  but  they  had  transported  safely 
to  France  an  American  army  of  more  than  two  million  men  with 
all  necessary  arms  and  equipment.  By  that  time  nearly  two 
million  more  Americans  were  in  training  in  the  camps  on  this 
side  of  the  ocean,  and  the  ages  for  military  duty  had  been  made 
between  18  and  46  years. 


were  of  wood,  and  a  few  of  concrete.  In  addition  to  these  new 
vessels,  the  government  took  control  of  many  privately  owned 
ships  and  also  of  a  large  fleet  of  German  liners  which  the  war  had 
kept  interned  in  American  ports. 

During  the  first  few  months  after  the  declaration  of  war,  the 
chief  energies  of  the  nation  were  devoted  to  preparation  for  the 
gigantic  struggle  that  was  impending.  Despite  the  utmost 


FREIGHT  SHIPS  SAILING  TO  FRANCE. 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR 


217 


Our  troops,  as  fast  as  they  arrived  in  France  or  England,  were 
sent  into  training  camps  to  be  made  ready  for  active  service  at 
the  front.  The  combined  American  expeditionary  forces  were 


THE  BATTLEFRONT  IN  FRANCE  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  LAST  GERMAN  ADVANCE. 


placed  under  the  command  of  General  John  J.  Pershing  of  the 
United  States  Army;  and  after  March,  1918,  all  the  Allied 
armies  in  Europe  were,  collectively,  directed  by  a  single  supreme 
commander,  Marshal  Foch  [fosh]  of  France. 


2l8 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


The  first  active  movement  made  by  our  forces  was  in  March, 
1918,  when  some  of  the  American  soldiers  took  possession  of  a 
few  trench  lines  between  Reims  [reemz]  and  the  Swiss  border. 
A  few  weeks  later  our  marines  and  soldiers  stopped  the  advance 
of  the  Germans  at  Chateau-Thierry  [sha-to'-tyer-ree']  and  turned 
the  tide  of  battle.  It  had  been  the  boast  of  the  Germans  that  the 

Americans  could  not  and  would  not  fight ;  they 
were  learning  now  by  bitter  experience  that 
the  Americans  both  could  and  would. 

In  September,  General  Pershing  captured 
the  important  salient  at  St.  Mihiel  [san  me-yel'], 
and  with  it  many  prisoners  and  guns.  Finally, 
after  weeks  of  persistent  and  stubborn  fighting, 
the  Americans  pressed  onward  to  Se-dan',  thus 
cutting  off  one  of  the  main  German  lines  of 
retreat. 

Meanwhile,  the  Allied  armies  had  won 
brilliant  victories  in  other  fields,  and  the  power 
of  Germany,  which  for  four  years  had  overawed 
American  soldier  wear-  the  world,  was  crumbling.  First  Bulgaria,  and 

ING  GAS  MASK.  7  0  ° 

then  Turkey  and  Austria-Hungary,  surrendered. 
German}’,  being  thus  abandoned  by  her  confederates  and  at 
the  end  of  her  resources,  was  forced,  early  in  November,  1918, 
to  abandon  her  schemes  of  conquest  and  make  such  terms  of 
peace  as  she  could. 

On  the  1 1  th  of  that  month  —  a  date  to  be  remembered  — 
an  armistice  was  agreed  upon  which  was  in  effect  an  unconditional 
surrender  on  the  part  of  the  German  Empire.  By  the  terms  of 
this  armistice,  the  German  army  handed  over  to  the  Allied  and 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR. 


219 


American  forces  almost  its  efitire  equipment  of  guns,  munitions, 
airplanes,  and  supplies.  The  German  government  also  surrendered 
all  its  submarines  and  nearly  all  its  other  vessels  of  war ;  withdrew 
its  troops  from  all  occupied  territories  in  Belgium,  France,  and 

/ 

-  elsewhere ;  agreed  to  pay  for  the  destruction  of  property  during 
the  war;  and  consented  to 
the  occupation,  by  the  Allied 
and  American  forces,  of 
many  important  places  in 
Germany,  including  the  west 
shore  of  the  river  Rhine. 

Thus  the  great  World  War 
came  to  an  end,  —  a  war,  the 
like  of  which  the  world  had 
never  known.  Its  cost  to 
all  the  nations  concerned  in 
it  was  too  great  to  be  com¬ 
prehended  by  the  mind.  The 
American  loss  in  killed  and 
wounded  was  no  fewer  than 
275,000  men — surely  a  great 
number,  but  small  compared 
with  the  millions  lost  by 
Great  Britain,  France,  and  other  nations  engaged  in  the  war. 
The  armistice,  which  was  at  first  limited  to  thirty  days,  was 
extended  from  time  to  time  while  the  terms  of  peace  were 
being  ax-ranged.  Finally,  on  June  28,  1919,  a  formal  treaty 
of  peace,  including  all  the  conditions  of  the  armistice  with 
many  others,  was  agreed  upon  and  signed  by  Germany  and 


220 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WORLD  WAR.  . 


the  victorious  Allies.  It  was  ratified  by  Germany,  now  under 
a  republican  government,  but  was  not  to  go  into  effect  until  it 
was  ratified  also  by  three  of  the  five  principal  powers  —  United 
States,  British  Empire,  France,  Italy,  Japan.  It  was  ratified 
by  four  of  them  and  was  put  into  force  January  io,  1920. 

Neu-tral'-i-ty,  state  or  condition  of  a  government  that  does  not  take 
part  in  a  war  between  other  powers.  Submarine  (sub-ma-reen'],  a  warship 
that  can  be  submerged  at  will ;  it  can  be  propelled  either  beneath  the  surface 
of  the  water,  or  on  the  surface  like  other  ships.  Sa'-li-ent,  part  of  a  battle 
line  projecting  outward.  The  St.  Mihiel  salient  was  like  a  V  twenty- five 
miles  on  each  side.  Ar'-mi-stice,  a  truce ;  an  agreement  to  stop  fighting 
for  a  time. 

Tell  in  your  own  words  about  — 

The  beginning  of  the  World  War. 

The  battle  of  the  Marne. 

The  Lusitania. 

Why  the  United  States  declared  war. 

What  Congress  did. 

What  the  people  did. 

What  our  army  did. 

The  results  of  the  World  War. 


INDEX 


Adams,  John,  129,  133. 

African  coast,  Portuguese  discoveries  on 
the,  3. 

Alaska,  207. 

Albany,  47. 

Alden,  John,  52,  53. 

Alexander,  Indian  chief,  67,  68. 

Alleghany  Mountains,  106,  135. 

America,  discovery  of,  by  Columbus,  10,  11 ; 
discoveries  in,  by  John  Cabot,  20,  21. 

Annawon,  Indian  chief,  77-79. 

Antietam,  battle  of,  183. 

Argali,  Samuel,  makes  Pocahontas  a  pris¬ 
oner,  37,  38 ;  governor  of  Virginia,  40. 

Asia,  plans  for  finding  a  new  way  to,  3,  4,  18 
(see  also  under  China,  India,  Japan,  and 
Pacific  Ocean) ;  supposed  to  have  been 
reached  by  Columbus,  n,  17,  19;  by  John 
Cabot,  20,  21. 

Atlantic  Ocean,  the,  called  “The  Sea  of 
Darkness,”  2,  8;  laying  of  telegraph 
cables  in,  169,  170. 

Awashonks,  Indian  chief,  74-76. 

Bacon,  Nathaniel,  and  his  men,  79-85. 

“Bacon’s  Laws,”  82. 

Balboa,  195. 

Barcelona,  entry  of  Columbus  into,  14,  15. 

Belgium,  in  the  World  War,  209-210. 

Berkeley,  Sir  William,  79-85. 

“  Black  Hunter  ”  of  Pennsylvania.  See 
Jack,  Captain. 

Blarkhawk  War,  177. 


Boone,  Daniel,  134-140,  198. 

Boonesborough,  137-140. 

Boston,  founding  of,  59 ;  besieged  by  Wash¬ 
ington,  1 1 8. 

Boston  Tea  Party,  the,  116. 

Braddock,  Edward  (general),  expedition  and 
defeat  of,  m-113. 

Brookfield,  Indian  attack  on,  71. 

Bunker  Hill,  battle  of,  117,  118. 

Cable  telegraph  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  i6g, 
170. 

Cabot,  John,  18-23. 

Cabot,  Sebastian,  21-23,  43- 

California,  207. 

Canada,  discovery  in,  20;  French  colonies 
in,  106;  surrendered  to  the  English,  114; 
conquered  by  the  English,  198. 

Canal  Zone,  196. 

Cape  Breton  Island  discovered  by  John 
Cabot,  20. 

Captain  Jack.  See  under  Jack. 

Carolina,  Cornwallis  in,  122. 

Catskill  Mountains,  47. 

Centennial  Exposition,  igo. 

Central  America,  Spanish  possessions  in,  42. 

Charles  I,  King  of  England,  60. 

Charles  II,  King  of  England,  60 ;  grants 
land  to  William  Penn,  64 ;  death  of,  65. 

Chesapeake  Bay  explored,  30. 

Chickahominy,  attempts  to  find  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  China  by  way  of  the,  26,  29. 

Chickamauga,  battle  at,  183. 


221 


222 


INDEX 


“Chief  who  never  Sleeps,  the,”  a  name  given 
to  General  Wayne,  146. 

China,  supposed  to  have  been  reached  by 
John  Cabot,  20;  attempts  to  find  a  new 
way  to,  30,  43- 

Church,  Benjamin,  in  King  Philip’s  War, 
74-79. 

Church  and  state  separated  in  Virginia,  129. 

Cipango,  name  given  by  Marco  Polo  to 
Japan,  21. 

Civil  War,  180,  181 ;  causes  of,  182 ;  fall  of 
Fort  Sumter,  battles  of  Shiloh,  Murfrees¬ 
boro,  Chickamauga,  Nashville,  Antietam, 
Gettysburg,  and  in  Virginia,  183;  capture 
of  New  Orleans,  siege  of  Petersburg  and 
Richmond,  184;  Sherman’s  march  to  the 
sea,  184,  185 ;  Lee’s  retreat  and  surrender, 
185. 

Clark,  George  Rogers,  201. 

Clark,  William,  205. 

“Clermont,  the,”  Fulton’s  steamboat,  143, 
144- 

Colonies  in  America,  mismanagement  of,  26 ; 
Captain  Smith’s  successful  management, 
28,  29;  religious  liberty  sought  in,  64; 
taxation  of,  115,  116.  See  also  under 
Revolutionary  War. 

Columbia  River  discovered  by  Robert  Gray, 
205  ;  Lewis  and  Clark  at  the,  205. 

Columbian  Exposition,  192. 

Columbus,  Bartholomew,  19. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  early  life  of,  1-6; 
how  he  discovered  America,  7-1 1 ;  after 
the  discovery  of  America,  12-17  ;  attempt 
to  reach  the  “Spice  Islands  of  Asia,”  18; 
his  supposed  discovery  of  India,  19. 

Compass,  variation  of  the,  8. 

Confederate  States  of  America,  the  formation 
of,  182. 

Congress,  Colonial,  appointed,  116. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the,  for¬ 
mation  of,  100;  adoption  of,  125. 

Corn,  Indian.  See  Indian  corn. 

Cornwallis  Charles  (first  marquess),  at 


Trenton,  120,  121 ;  victories  in  the  South, 
122;  defeat  at  Yorktown,  123,  124. 

Cuba,  Columbus  at,  n  ;  war  in,  186-188. 

Custis,  Mrs.  Martha,  married  to  George 
Washington,  114. 

“Darkness,  Sea  of.”  See  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  election  of,  as  President, 
182. 

De  Lesseps,  French  engineer,  195. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  99,  ng,  190; 
Jefferson  its  author,  127,  129,  133. 

Delaware  Bay,  Henry  Hudson  on,  45. 

Delaware  River,  64;  crossing  of  the,  by 
General  Washington,  120. 

Dorchester  Heights,  118. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  built  by  the  French,  109; 
Braddock’s  expedition  against,  m-113; 
the  French  driven  out  of,  114. 

Dutch  discoveries  in  America,  45,  47,  48; 
colonization  in  America,  48.  See  also 
under  Holland. 

Dutch  East  India  Company,  the,  sends  out 
Henry  Hudson,  44. 

Electrical  inventions,  190. 

Eliot,  John,  68. 

England,  war  with  Spain,  103 ;  war  with 
France,  109-114;  taxation  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  colonies  by,  1x5;  possessions  in 
America,  198.  See  also  Revolutionary 
War  and  War  of  1812. 

English  discoveries  in  America,  20;  settle¬ 
ments  in  America,  25;  settlers  west  of 
the  Alleghanies,  106;  possessions  in 

America,  198. 

Entail,  law  of,  in  Virginia,  102,  129. 

Erie,  Lake,  battle  of,  151. 

Fairfax,  Thomas  (sixth  baron),  104. 

Farragut,  David  G.  (admiral),  184. 

Ferdinand,  King  of  Spain,  4,  14. 

Field,  Cyrus  W.,  169. 

Fireplace  invented  by  Franklin,  97. 


INDEX. 


Fitch,  John,  141 ;  his  steamboat,  142. 

Florida  owned  by  Spain,  157,  206;  invaded 
by  General  Jackson,  158;  purchased  from 
Spain,  i5g,  206. 

Forbes,  John  (general),  114. 

Fort  Duquesne  See  Duquesne,  Fort. 

Fort  Meigs.  See  Meigs,  Fort. 

Fort  Mimms.  See  Mimms,  Fort. 

Fort  Necessity.  See  Necessity,  Fort. 

Fort  Pitt.  See  Pitt,  Fort. 

Fort  Sumter.  See  Sumter,  Fort. 

France,  war  with  England,  1 09-1 14  ;  aid  of, 
sought  by  the  Americans,  99 ;  aid  given 
to  the  colonies  against  England,  99,  100, 
122 ;  purchase  of  Louisiana  from,  13 1,  199, 
205;  in  World  War,  209-220. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  boyhood  of,  S6-89; 
Franklin,  the  printer,  90-95;  the  great 
Doctor  Franklin,  95-101 ;  his  education, 
how  gained,  175,  176. 

French  and  Indian  War,  109-114. 

French  colonies  and  possessions  in  America, 
106,  198. 

French  War,  109-114.  See  also  under 
France. 

Friends.  See  Quakers. 

Fulton,  Robert,  and  the  steamboat,  141- 
145- 

Genoa,  1,  2. 

George  III,  King  of  England,  128. 

Georgia,  Sherman’s  march  through,  185. 

Germany,  in  World  War,  209-220. 

Gettysburg,  battle  of,  183. 

Gist,  Christopher,  107,  108. 

Goffe,  William  (colonel),  71;  saves  Hat¬ 
field,  72. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  184. 

Gray,  Robert,  discovers  the  Oregon  River, 
205. 

Great  Eastern  (ship),  laying  of  telegraph 
cable  by,  170. 

Great  Meadows,  Washington  at,  hi. 

Growth  of  the  United  States,  198-208. 


223 

Haiti  ( IJispaniola ),  Columbus  at,  13;  col¬ 
ony  at,  15. 

Half-king,  the  Indian  chief,  107. 

Half  Moon,  the  (ship),  44,  46,  47. 

Hancock,  John,  146. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  146. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  146-152. 

Hatfield  saved  by  Colonel  Goffe,  71,  72. 

Henry  VII,  King  of  England,  Columbus’s 
plan  offered  to,  19 ;  sends  out  expeditions 
under  Cabot,  19,  21. 

Henry  the  Navigator,  Prince,  of  Portugal, 
3,  4,  18. 

Henry,  Patrick,  speech  of,  against  the 
Stamp  Act,  128. 

Hessians  hired  by  the  King  of  England, 
1 19;  surprised  by  General  Washington 
at  Trenton,  120. 

Hispaniola.  See  Haiti. 

Holland,  religious  liberty  in,  49.  See  also 
under  Dutch. 

Hopewell  (ship),  43. 

Horseshoe  Bend,  battle  at,  157. 

Hudson,  Henry,  42-48. 

Hudson,  John,  43. 

Hudson  River,  the,  explored  by  Henry 
Hudson,  46,  47. 

Hudson  Bay  discovered  by  Henry  Hudson, 
48. 

Illinois,  147;  Indian  war  in,  177. 

Independence,  Declaration  of.  See  under 
Declaration. 

India,  plans  and  attempts  to  find  new  routes 
to,  3,  4,  16,  26,  42,  44,  45;  Columbus’s 
supposed  discovery  of,  19.  See  also  under 
Asia  and  Pacific  Ocean. 

Indian  corn,  50,  55. 

Indiana,  territory  of,  147. 

Indiana,  147 ;  products  of,  sent  to  New  Or¬ 
leans,  174. 

Indians,  treatment  of,  by  Columbus,  12,  13; 
brought  to  Spain,  14;  at  Jamaica,  16; 
in  Virginia,  25-28,  30-33,  35_4G  80,  82, 


224 


INDEX 


83  ;  sold  as  slaves,  33;  attempts  to  Chris¬ 
tianize,  33;  New  England  Indians,  33; 
in  New  Jersey,  45,  46;  in  New  York,  47; 
in  New  England  (Massachusetts),  50,  51, 
54-59,  67-69;  in  Pennsylvania,  Penn’s 
treaty  with,  64,  65 ;  John  Eliot,  68 ;  weap¬ 
ons  of,  55,  69;  wampum,  69,  70;  methods 
of  warfare,  70,  71,  74;  King  Philip’s 
War,  70-79;  Susquehannas,  80;  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War,  106,  113,  118;  in 
Kentucky,  135-140;  aiding  the  English  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  139;  war  in 
Ohio,  146;  war  under  Tecumseh  in  the 
Northwest,  147-150;  aid  rendered  to  the 
English  in  the  War  of  1812,  150-152,  158 ; 
war  in  the  Southwest,  156,  157;  Black- 
hawk  War  in  Illinois,  177. 

Inheritance,  laws  of,  in  Virginia,  102,  129. 

Inventions,  190. 

Isabella,  Queen  of  Spain,  14,  15,  17 

Jack,  Captain,  112,  113. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  153-160, 

Jackson,  Thomas  J.  (“Stonewall  Jackson”), 
184. 

Jamaica,  Columbus  at,  16. 

James  II,  King  of  England,  and  William 
Penn,  65,  66.  See  also  York,  Duke  of. 

James  River,  Henry  Hudson  at  the,  45. 

Jamestown,  settlement  at,  25 ;  famine  at, 
26;  Pocahontas  aids  the  colonists,  36; 
new  colonists,  Smith  deposed,  37  ;  troubles 
with  the  Indians,  37,  38,  40;  Nathaniel 
Bacon  and  his  men,  79-85.  See  also  un¬ 
der  Virginia. 

Japan,  Cabot’s  attempt  to  fine,  21. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  127-133;  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  199,  201. 

Johnston,  Joseph  E.,  184. 

Kaskaskia,  capture  of  fort  at,  201.  * 

Keith,  Sir  William,  92,  93,  94. 

Kentucky,  settlement  of,  1x4 ;  Daniel  Boone, 
134-140. 


King  Philip’s  War,  70-79.  See  also  under 
Philip. 

Knox,  Henry  (general),  124. 

Lake  Erie.  Sec  Erie,  Lake. 

Law  of  entail  in  Virginia,  102,  129. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  184;  retreat  from  Rich¬ 
mond  and  surrender,  185. 

Lewis,  Meriwether,  205. 

Lexington,  battle  at,  117. 

Liberty,  religious.  See  Religious  liberty. 

Library,  public,  first  one  in  America,  97. 

Lightning,  Franklin’s  discovery  as  to  the 
nature  of,  98,  99. 

Lightning  rod,  invention  of  the,  99. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  171-176;  in  public  life, 
177-181. 

Livingston,  Robert  R.  (chancellor),  143. 

Loe,  Thomas,  influence  of,  on  William  Penn, 
60,  61. 

Logtown,  Washington’s  council  with  the 
Indians  at,  108. 

Long  Island,  battle  of,  119. 

Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  “Courtship  of  Miles 
Standish,”  53. 

Louisiana,  French  colonies  in,  106. 

“Louisiana  purchase,”  the,  13 1,  191,  205. 

Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition,  193. 

McKinley,  William,  death  of,  192. 

Mary,  Queen  of  England,  66. 

Maryland,  battle  at  Antietam,  183. 

Massachusetts,  settlements  in,  5g. 

Massasoit,  Indian  chief,  56,  67. 

Matoax.  See  Pocahontas. 

Maumee  River,  battle  with  the  Indians  at 
the,  146. 

Mayflower,  the  (ship),  50. 

Meigs,  Fort,  General  Harrison  besieged  in, 

151- 

Mexican  War,  the,  207. 

Mexico  206;  war  with,  California  and  New 
Mexico  bought  from,  207. 

Mimms,  Fort,  attacked  by  Indians,  156. 


INDEX. 


225 


Minutemen,  117. 

Mississippi  River  secured  by  the  Union 
Army,  184. 

Missouri,  140. 

Mobile,  General  Jackson’s  defense  of,  158. 

Monticello,  128,  131. 

Morristown,  Washington  at,  121. 

Morse,  Samuel  F.  B.,  and  the  telegraph, 
161-165 ;  how  the  telegraph  became  suc¬ 
cessful,  166-170. 

Mount  Vernon,  114,  115,  123,  124,  126  (illus¬ 
tration). 

Mullins,  Priscilla,  53. 

Murfreesboro,  battle  of,  183. 

Muscovy  Company,  the,  43,  44. 

Narragansett  Indians,  56,  57,  67,  72,  73. 

Nashville,  battle  of,  183. 

Navigation  by  steam,  various  experiments 
in,  141,  142  ;  Fulton’s  steamboat,  143,  144. 

Necessity,  Fort,  hi. 

New  Brunswick,  Cornwallis  at,  121. 

New  England,  Captain  Smith’s  attempts  to 
plant  a  colony  in,  33,  34 ;  colonization  of, 
by  Pilgrims,  49 ;  settlements  in,  59. 

New  Jersey,  Washington  in,  119;  forced 
from  the  British,  12 1. 

New  Mexico,  207. 

New  Orleans,  defense  of,  155;  battle  of,  158, 
159;  capture  of,  184. 

New  York,  discovered  by  Henry  Hudson, 
45;  colonized  by  the  Dutch,  48;  English 
expedition  against,  119;  occupied  by  the 
English,  122;  Washington’s  feigned  at¬ 
tack  on,  123;  inauguration  of  Washing¬ 
ton  in,  126. 

North  America  discovered  by  John  Cabot, 
20. 

North  Carolina,  the  Boones  in,  135.  See 
also  Carolina. 

Nova  Zembla,  Henry  Hudson  at,  44. 

Ohio  River,  English  settlers  in  the  valley 
of  the,  106. 


“Old  Hickory,”  a  nickname  given  to  Gen¬ 
eral  Jackson,  155,  160. 

Open  Door,  the,  Indian  prophet,  148,  150. 

“Oregon  Country,”  the,  205,  206. 

Oregon  River  discovered,  205. 

Pacific  Ocean,  attempts  to  reach  the,  by 
Captain  Smith,  26,  30;  by  Henry  Hud¬ 
son,  45,  47.  See  also  under  Asia  and 
India. 

Panama  Canal,  195-197. 

Pan-American  Exposition,  192. 

Penn,  William,  59-66 

Pennsylvania,  founded  by  Penn,  59;  named 
by  Charles  II,  64;  growth  of  the  colony, 
65;  government  of,  by  Penn’s  descend¬ 
ants,  66;  settlement  of,  135. 

Pensacola,  capture  of,  158. 

Perry,  Oliver  H.,  at  Lake  Erie,  151. 

Pershing,  John  J.,  217,  218. 

Petersburg,  siege  of,  184. 

Philadelphia,  founding  of,  64  ;  public  library 
started  in,  by  Franklin,  97. 

Philip,  King,  Indian  chief,  67-73;  Captain 
Church  in  Philip’s  War,  74-79. 

Pilgrims,  the,  in  Holland,  49;  voyage  to 
America,  50;  landing  at  Plymouth,  51,  52. 

Pitt,  Fort,  1 14. 

Pitt,  William,  Fort  Pitt  named  after,  114. 

Pittsburg,  1 14. 

Plymouth,  colony  at,  34;  named  by  John 
Smith,  51;  settlement  of  Pilgrims  at,  51, 
52 ;  troubles  with  the  Indians  at,  54, 
56-58;  want  of  food  at,  55,  58. 

Pocahontas,  the  story  of,  35-40. 

Polk,  James  K.,  169. 

Polo,  Marco,  7,  11,  21. 

“Poor  Richard’s  Almanac,”  96. 

Portugal,  king  of,  and  Columbus,  4. 

Portuguese,  attempts  of  the,  to  reach  India, 
3,  42. 

Powhatan,  Indian  chief,  27,  28,  31,  35-40. 

Press,  liberty  of  the,  in  the  American  colo¬ 
nies,  89. 


226 


INDEX 


Princeton,  battle  of,  121. 

Printing  press  of  Franklin’s  time,  95  (illus¬ 
tration). 

Priscilla.  See  Mullins,  Priscilla. 

Proctor,  Henry  A.  (general),  151. 

Progress  of  our  country,  197. 

Puritans.  See  Pilgrims. 

Quakers,  60,  61 ;  Penn’s  efforts  in  behalf  of, 
64,  65 ;  settlement  in  Pennsylvania,  64. 

Railways,  steam  applied  to,  145. 

Read,  Deborah,  wife  of  Benjamin  Franklin, 
92,  96. 

Rebecca.  See  Pocahontas. 

Rebellion.  See  Civil  War. 

Red  Eagle.  See  Weathersford. 

Religious  liberty,  in  Holland,  49;  sought  in 
the  American  colonies,  64 ;  in  Virginia, 
129. 

Revolutionary  War,  French  aid  to  the 
Americans  in  the,  99,  100,  122  ;  Franklin’s 
services  in,  99,  100;  its  causes,  115,  116; 
Congress  appointed,  1 1 6 ;  battles  at 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  1x7;  Boston, 
1 18;  battles  in  New  York  and  New  Jer¬ 
sey,  1 19;  battle  of  Trenton,  119,  120; 
battle  of  Princeton,  121;  Cornwallis  in 
the  South,  122;  battle  of  Yorktown,  123, 
124;  Indian  aid  to  the  English,  139;  in 
the  South,  153. 

Richmond,  battle  near,  183;  siege  of,  184; 
Lee’s  retreat  from,  185. 

Rolfe,  John,  married  to  Pocahontas,  38,  39. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  193. 

Rumsey,  James,  his  steamboat,  141. 

Russia,  purchase  of  Alaska  from,  207. 

St.  Clair,  Arthur  (general),  146. 

St.  Louis,  Exposition  at,  193. 

St.  Mihiel,  battle,  218. 

San  Salvador  discovered,  10,  11. 

Saunders,  Richard.  See  Poor  Richard’s 
Almanac. 


“Sea  of  Darkness.”  See  Atlantic  Ocean. 

“Seventeen  Fires,”  name  given  by  the  In¬ 
dians  to  the  United  States,  147. 

Sheridan,  Philip  H.,  184. 

Sherman,  W.  T.,  184;  his  march  to  the  sea, 

184,  185. 

Shiloh,  battle  of,  183. 

Slavery  in  the  United  States,  179;  anti¬ 
slavery  movement,  180;  cause  of  the  civil 
war,  182 ;  abolished  in  the  United  States, 

185. 

Smith,  Captain  John,  23-28;  more  about 
him,  29-34;  Smith  and  Pocahontas,  35, 
36,  39,  40;  his  return  to  England,  37; 
letter  to  Hudson  concerning  a  passage  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  45;  at  Plymouth,  51. 

South  America,  attempt  to  reach  India  by 
way  of,  16;  discovered  by  Columbus,  20; 
Spanish  possessions  in,  25. 

Spain,  Columbus’s  plans  rejected  in,  4;  his 
plans  accepted,  6 ;  expedition  fitted  out 
under  Columbus,  8;  discoveries  in  Amer¬ 
ica,  10,  xi,  13,  16;  possessions  in  South 
America,  25 ;  possessions  in  the  West  In¬ 
dies  and  Central  America,  42  ;  war  with 
England,  103 ;  aid  to  England  in  the  war 
of  1812,  15S;  Spaniards  in  Florida  and 
Mexico,  157,  206;  Florida  purchased  from, 
159,  206;  war  with,  186. 

Spaniards.  Spanish.  See  under  Spain. 

“Spice  Islands”  of  Asia,  attempts  to  reach 
the,  18. 

Spitzbergen,  Henry  Hudson  at,  44. 

Squanto,  Indian,  33,  55,  56. 

Stamp  Act,  the,  128. 

Standish,  Myles,  49-53 ;  Standish  and  the 
Indians,  54-59. 

State  rights,  doctrine  of,  182. 

Steam  applied  to  railways,  145. 

Steam  engine,  invention  of  the,  141. 

Steamboats,  experiments  and  trials,  141, 
142  ;  built  by  Fulton,  143,  144. 

Steamers,  ocean,  145. 

Stonewall  Jackson.  See  Jackson,  Thomas  J. 


INDEX. 


227 


Sumter,  Fort,  182,  183. 

Susan  Constant  (ship),  25. 

Susquehanna  Indians,  80. 

Taxation  of  the  American  colonies,  115, 
1 16. 

Tea,  tax  on,  115,  116. 

Tecumseh,  Indian  chief,  147,  156;  General 
Harrison’s  council  with,  148,  149;  made 
brigadier  general  in  the  British  army, 
150;  at  Fo:t  Meigs,  151 ;  death  of,  152. 

Telegraph,  the  electric,  161 ;  Morse’s  ex¬ 
periments  on,  163-167 ;  appropriation 
made  by  Congress  for,  168;  submarine 
cables,  169,  170. 

Telephone,  the,  170,  190. 

Tennessee,  settlement  of,  114,  154;  Daniel 
Boone  in,  135. 

Texas,  annexed  to  the  United  States,  206; 
Mexican  War,  207. 

Thames,  battle  of  the,  151. 

Tippecanoe,  Tecumseh  at,  148;  battle  of, 
149,  150. 

Trenton,  the  British  at,  119;  battle  of,  120; 
Washington’s  reception  in,  125. 

United  States,  growth  of  the,  19S-208. 

Vail,  Alfred,  and  the  electric  telegraph,  163- 
167. 

Vincennes,  council  of  General  Harrison  with 
Tecumseh  at,  148;  capture  of,  201. 

Virginia,  Indian  wars  in,  40,  80,  82,  83 ; 
inheritance  of  land  in,  102,  129;  Corn¬ 
wallis  in,  122;  religious  liberty  in,  129; 
battles  in,  during  the  civil  war,  183.  See 
also  under  Jamestown. 


Wampanoags,  the,  Indian  tribe,  67. 

Wampum,  69,  70;  wampum  belts,  66,  7c 
(illustrations). 

War  of  1812,  Meigs  besieged,  battle  of  Lake 
Erie,  battle  of  the  Thames,  15 1 ;  Indian 
aid  to  the  English,  150-152,  158;  defense 
of  New  Orleans,  155;  battle  of  New  Or¬ 
leans,  158,  159. 

Warfare,  Indian  methods  of,  70,  71,  74. 

Washington,  George,  youth  of,  102-109; 
in  the  French  War,  109-114;  in  the 
Revolution,  115-121 ;  the  victory  at  York- 
town  and  Washington  as  President,  122- 
126. 

Washington,  battles  between  Washington 
and  Richmond  during  the  civil  war,  183; 
Confederate  victories,  184. 

Watt,  James,  141,  143. 

Wayne,  Anthony,  146. 

Weapons  used  by  the  Indians,  55,  69. 

Weathersford  (Red  Eagle),  156,  157. 

West,  the,  settlers  in,  186;  the  British 
driven  from  the  Western  forts,  189;  ex¬ 
plorations  by  Lewis  and  Clark,  205. 

West  Indies,  discoveries  in  the,  10,  n,  13, 
16  ;  Spanish  possessions  in  the,  42. 

Weymouth,  settlement  at,  57. 

William  III,  King  of  England,  66. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  2 10-213. 

Wisconsin,  147. 

World  Wax,  209-220. 

Yadkin  River,  the  Boones  at  the,  135. 

York,  Duke  of,  befriends  William  Penn, 
62,  63 ;  aids  the  Quakers,  64 ;  becomes 
King  of  England,  65.  See  also  James  II. 

Yorktown,  battle  of,  123,  124. 


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